LIBRARY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


.-^ 


A   LIFE 


OP 


CLEMENT  L  \ 


ALLANDIGHAM, 


BY   HIS   BROTHER, 

REV.  JAMES  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 


BALTIMOEE: 
TUKNBULL    BEOTHEES, 

8   NORTH   CHARLES   STREET. 
1872. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  Year  1872,  by 

TURNBULL  BROTHERS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I— ANCESTRY. 

PAGE 

First  Ancestor  in  this  Country— Great-Grandfather— Grandfather- 
Father — Maternal  Grandfather— Mother,  ....  1 

CHAPTER  II— BIRTH  AND  EARLY  DAYS. 

Nativity— First  School— School  Companions— Studious  Habits— 
A  Good  Shot  and  a  Successful  Fisherman— The  Discomfited 
Joker — Adventure  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland — 
Reminiscence  of  Rev.  C.  V.  McKaig— A  Characteristic  Com 
position,  9 

CHAPTER  III— COLLEGE  LIFE. 

A  Student  of  Jefferson  College — Principal  of  Union  Academy  in 
Snow  Hill— Letter  of  Judge  Franklin— Letter  of  Irving 
Spence,  Esq. — Re-enters  College — Chosen  Debater  of  the 
Franklin  Society — Rules  for  Moral  Culture— Difficulty  with 
the  President  of  the  College — Demands  and  Receives  an 
Honorable  Dismission — Commences  the  Study  of  Law — 
The  Contest  at  College— Tribute  of  the  Rev.  F.  T.  Brown,  D.D. 
— Recollections  of  the  Hon.  Sherrard  Clemens— Offered  his 
Diploma, 19 

CHAPTER  IV— ENTRANCE  ON  POLITICAL  AND  PROFESSIONAL  CAREER. 

First  Political  Speech— Speech  at  New  Middletown— Discussion 
with  the  Whigs— Rencounter  on  the  Streets  of  New  Lisbon— 


IV  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

His  First  Speech  to  a  Jury  while  a  Student  of  Law — Ad 
mitted  to  the  Bar — First  Speech  after  Admission — Great 
Success  as  a  Lawyer — Fixed  Rules, 32 

CHAPTER  V — IN  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  OHIO. 

Elected  a  Representative — Rules  for  Conduct  as  a  Legislator — 
First  Speech — Eeport  on  the  Eligibility  of  Officers  of  the 
State  Bank  to  a  Seat  in  the  Legislature — Report  on  Legis 
lative  Districts — Speech  on  the  Bill  to  Repeal  the  Ohio 
State  Bank  Act — Speech  on  the  Sanctity  of  Cemeteries — 
Speech  on  the  Tax  Bill— The  True  Statesman  Delineated— 
His  First  Vote — Courtesy  to  Opponents — Canvass  of  the 
County  for  Re-nomination — Nominated  and  Elected — His 
Marriage — Second  Session  in  the  Legislature — Unanimously 
Supported  for  Speaker  by  his  Party — Resolutions  and  Speech 
on  the  Mexican  War— The  Wilmot  Proviso— Votes  to  Reject 
Petitions  for  Dissolution  of  the  Union — Popular  Education — 
The  Black  Laws — His  Reputation  as  a  Legislator — Declines 
a  Re-nomination, 39 

CHAPTER   VI — REMOVAL   TO    DAYTON,    AND   EDITORSHIP   OF   THE 

"  EMPIRE." 

Takes  up  his  Residence  in  Dayton — Becomes  Law-Partner  of  T. 
J.  S.  Smith,  Esq. — Editor  of  the  Empire — His  Salutatory  Ad 
dress—Editorial  on  Politics  and  the  Pulpit — Editorial  on 
Dorrism — Valedictory — Candidate  for  Judge,  53 

CHAPTER  VII— EVENTS  FROM  1850  TO  1855. 

Abolitionism — Compromise  of  1850— Meeting  in  Dayton  Opposed 
to  it — Meeting  in  its  Favor — Letter  of  Judge  Crane — Reso 
lutions — Mr.  Vallandigham  a  Warm  Friend  of  the  Compro 
mise — Candidate  for  Nomination  for  Lieutenant-Governor— 
First  Nomination  for  Congress— Fails  of  Election— Journey 
Through  Virginia  and  Maryland— Nominated  for  Congress 


CONTENT  S  .  V 

PAGE 

in  1854 — Knownothingism  or  Americanism — Charged  with 
Being  a  Knownothing— Defeated— Speech  on  Abolitionism 
in  1855, .  61 

CHAPTER    VIII— ELECTION   TO    CONGRESS  IN  1856,  AND  CONTEST 
FOR  THE  SEAT. 

-Nominated  for  Congress  by  Acclamation — Result  of  the  Election- 
Notice  of  Contest— The  Ohio  Rebellion— Mr.  Vallandigham's 
Argument  before  the  U.  S.  District  Court— The  Result- 
Prosecution  of  the  Contest  before  Congress— Report  in  his 
Favor — Adoption  of  the  Report  and  Admission  to  his  Seat- 
Again  Nominated  and  Elected— ^Speech  on  the  Impeachment 
of  Judge  Watrous — Speech  on  the  Tariff— The  John  Brown 
Raid — Mr.  Vallandigham's  Letter  in  Regard  to  it — Excite 
ment  in  the  Country, .88 

CHAPTER  IX— THIRTY-SIXTH  CONGRESS. 

Meeting  of  Congress— Helper's  Book — Attempt  to  Elect  a  Speaker- 
Mr.  Vallandigham's  Speech — Speaker  Elected— Free  Trans 
mission  of  Newspapers — The  Hour  Rule — Arming  the  State 
Militia — Goes  to  Charleston — Incident  There — Letter  to  his 
Brother — Visits  Home — Speaks  at  Detroit — Re-elected  to  Con 
gress — Card  to  the  Enquirer — 2d  Session  of  Congress — Letter 
to  his  Wife — Speech  in  Congress — Mr.  Sickles  on  Coercion — 
Border  State  Meeting — Central  Confederacy — Serenade  and 
Speech— Visits  Richmond— Letter  to  his  Wife— Another 
Letter — Amendment  to  the  Constitution — Misrepresented — 
Vote  on  the  Compromise  Measures — Denunciation  and  Reply 
—His  Personal  Peril— Private  Circular— Letter  to  his  Con 
stituents,  127 

CHAPTER  X— THIRTY-SEVENTH   CONGRESS. 

Meets  on  the  4th  of  July — Violent  Excitement— Mr.  V.  speaks  on 
Executive  Usurpation — Affair  at  Camp  Upton — Favors  Equal 
Rights  to  the  Jews — Vol.  Army  Bill — The  Crittenden  Resolu 
tion—Military  Academy  Bill— Convention  of  the  States— 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Seizure  of  Mason  and  Slidell — Surrender  of  Mason  and 
Slidell — Legal  Tender  Bill— Hickman's  Assault  and  Repulse — 
Retort  on  Wade — Attempted  Censure — Greeley  Petitions — 
Democratic  Address — A  Lull  in  the  Storm — Bursts  Again — 
Threatened  Arrest — Speech  at  Dayton — Renominated  for 
Congress — Defeated,  and  the  Cause — Cane  Presentation- 
Jubilee  Meetings — Meeting  of  Congress— Resolutions — Speech 
of  Jan.  14 — New  Party— Debate  on  Conscription,  .  .  164 

CHAPTER  XI— THE  ARREST. 

Congress  Adjourns — Mr.  V.  speaks  in  Philadelphia— In  New  York — 
In  Connecticut — His  Welcome  Home — Military  Orders — 
Speech  at  Hamilton— Letter  to  Mr.  Sanderson — Speech  at 
Columbus — Meeting  at  Mt.  Yernon — Account  by  Mr.  Irvine — 
In  the  Banner — In  the  Crisis — Rumors  of  Intended  Arrest — 
Assault  on  his  House — Carried  to  Cincinnati  and  Imprisoned 
— Excitement  in  Dayton — Letter  from  the  Prison,  .  .  231 

CHAPTER  XII— TRIAL,  &c. 

Officers  of  the  Commission — Charge  and  Specification — Examin 
ation  of  Witnesses — Mr.  Yallandigham's  Protest — Finding 
and  Sentence — Character  of  the  Commission — Habeas  Corpus 
— The  Result — Indignation  Meetings — At  Albany — In  New 
York  City— In  Philadelphia— Effect  of  These— Application  to 
the  Supreme  Court, 262 

CHAPTER  XIII— EXILE  AND  POLITICAL  CAMPAIGN  OF  1863. 

Mr.  Y.  on  the  Gunboat  Exchange — Parting  Address — Interview  with 
Gen.  Rosecrans — Carried  to  the  Confederate  Lines — Incident 
at  Shelbyville — Discussion  about  Receiving  Him  in  the  Con 
federacy — The  Democratic  Convention  at  Columbus — Mr.  Y. 
Nominated  for  Governor — Resolutions — Committee  to  Wait 
on  the  President— Their  Letter — The  Result— Comments 
Thereon — Mr.  Y.  Leaves  the  South  for  Canada — Narrowly 
Escapes  Capture— Reception  in  Canada — Speech  at  Montreal 
— Arrives  at  Niagara  Falls — Address  to  the  Democracy  of 


C  0  N  T  E  K  T  S  .  Vli 

PAGE 

Ohio — Enthusiastic  Political  Meetings  in  Ohio — Goes  to 
Windsor — Keception — Letter  to  the  Dayton  Meeting — An 
other  Letter — Vallandigham's  Birthplace — The  Result  of  the 
Election— Defeated  by  Fraud— Mr.  V.'s  Letter  Thereon— 
Letter  to  his  Wife — Visit  of  the  Students  of  the  University  of 
Michigan— Address  to  Them— Manner  of  Life  in  Exile,  .  296 

CHAPTER  XIV— RETURN  FROM  BANISHMENT. 

Attempts  to  Return,  and  Fails — Letter  of  Dr.  Walters — Telegram 
of  Mr.  P.— Note  of  Mr.  V.— His  Disguise— Crosses  the  River, 
and  Enters  the  Cars — Narrowly  Escapes  Arrest— Reaches 
Hamilton — His  Reception — Letter  of  Mr.  McMahon — His 
Address — His  Welcome  by  the  Democracy— Intends  to  Stay — 
Illness  of  His  Mother,  and  Letter  to  Her — Letter  on  Her 
Death— Speaks  in  Dayton — In  Syracuse,  New  York— Attends 
the  Convention  at  Chicago — Supports  McClellan  in  the 
Campaign,  .  .  ...  .  .  .  .  .  347 

CHAPTER  XV — PARTISAN  PROSCRIPTION  AND  THE  SONS  OF  LIBERTY. 

Evil  Passions  Engendered  by  the.  War — Regrets  since  Expressed  by 
Republicans— Mr.  V.  Proscribed— Arbitrary  Arrests— Free 
dom  of  Speech  and  of  the  Press  Assailed — Organization  of 
the  Sons  of  Liberty— Mr.  V.  Solicited  to  Join  Them,  but 
Refuses — Again  Applied  to,  and  Consents — Object  of  the 
Organization — Mr.  V.  made  Grand  Commander — Prevents 
Abuse  of  the  Order — Denounces  the  Attempt  to  Pervert  It — 
His  Speech  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  369 

CHAPTER  XVI— PATRIOTISM  AND  LOVE  OF  THE  UNION. 

A  United  States  Man— False  Charges  of  Disloyalty — Testimony  of 
Mr.  McCullough— Of  Rev.  Dr.  Brown — Sentiments  of  Promi 
nent  Republicans — Mr.  V.'s  Views — Opposition  to  the  War — 
This  Not  Disloyal— Illustrated— Testimony  of  Gen'l  Ward— 
Of  New  York  Herald — Not  Influenced  by  Southern  Sympathy 
— Not  Regarded  by  the  South  as  a  Friend  of  Her  Cause — 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Honest  and  Sincere — Letter  to  His  Brother — To  Mr.  Perharn 
— Reasons  for  Opposing  the  War — The  War  Unconstitutional 
—Could  be  Averted— War  a  Great  Evil— Especially  a  Civil 
War — Relatives  in  Both  Armies — War  Could  Not  Restore  the 
Union — Denunciation  of  Abuses  of  Power,  ....  886 

CHAPTER  XVII— EVENTS  PROM  1865  TO  1870. 

Effort  for  Peace — Letter  to  Greeley — Incident  in  Dayton — Death  of 
President  Lincoln— Letter  to  the  Young  Men's  Democratic 
Association  of  Lancaster — President  of  the  State  Convention  . 
— President  Johnson  and  the  Radicals — Philadelphia  Conven 
tion—The  Canvass  of  1867— Speech  at  Mt.  Vernon— Letter  of 
Mr.  McCulloch — Senatorial  Contest — Democratic  National 
Convention  of  1868— His  Nomination  for  Congress— The 
Canvass,  and  the  Result — Devotes  Himself  to  the  Law — Con 
gressional  Election  of  1870,  and  Speech  of  Hon.  L.  D.  Camp 
bell—Mr.  V.'s  Speech  to  the  Colored  People,  .  .  .402 

CHAPTER  XVIII— THE  NEW  DEPARTURE. 

The  Montgomery  County  Meeting — Speech  of  Mr.  Houk — The  Reso 
lutions — Speech  of  Mr.  Vallandigham — The  Manner  in  which 
the  Movement  was  Received — Letter  of  Judge  Chase — Ex 
tracts  from  Different  Papers— Opposition  to  the  New  Depar 
ture—Defence  by  its  Friends— Motives  of  Mr.  Vallandigham 
—His  Last  Political  Speech, 430 

CHAPTER  XIX — HABITS  OF  STUDY,  AND  MENTAL  DISCIPLINE. 
Early  Studious  Habits— Letter  of  the  Hon.  S.  Clemens— Extracts 
from  Letters  to  his  Brother— His  Theological  Acquirements- 
Letter  from  the  Commercial— Mr.  V.  a  Fine  Writer— Letter  on 
the  Training  of  his  Son— Remarkable  Interview  with  Colonel 
Key, 450 

CHAPTER  XX — SOCIAL  AND  DOMESTIC  CHARACTER. 

Illustrated— Letter  to  his  Brother  James— To '  his  Sister— New 
Lisbon  and  the  Old  Homestead— Letter  to  his  Brother— To 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PAGE 

the  same — Sympathy  for  Friends  in  Trouble — Letter  to 
his  Sister-in-law — Deeds  of  Kindness — Letter  to  his  Mother — 
To  his  Brother — Slander  Refuted — Extracts  from  several 
Letters  to  his  Mother — Letter  on  the  Death  of  his  Child- 
Social  Qualities— Personal  Appearance— Letter  to  his  Wife— 
To  his  Son — Recollections  of  his  Cousin,  Mrs.  Egbert,  .  .  46o 

CHAPTER  XXI— RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER. 

Early  Religious  Training— Religious  Element  of  his  Character- 
Not  Obtrusive — No  Bigot— Letter  to  his  Brother  James— 
Another  Letter  to  the  same — Note  from  his  Mother — Letter 
to  his  Mother — To  his  Brother — Becomes  a  Communicant 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church — Letter  of  Rev.  J.  H.  Brookes, 
D.  D. — Withdraws  from  the  Church,  and  the  Cause — Attends 
the  Lutheran  Church — Letter  of  Rev.  D.  Steck — Letter  to 
his  Sister  Margaret — Remarks  Thereon — Letter  to  his  Brother 
— To  his  Mother — To  the  same — Letter  of  the  Rev.  John 
Haight— Letter  on  the  Death  of  his  Sister-in-law,  .  .  .492 

CHAPTER  XXII— His  DEATH. 

The  Town  of  Lebanon— The  Alleged  Crime  of  McGehan— The 
Trial— The  Fatal  Accident  to  Mr.  V.— Account  from  the 
Enquirer  —  From  the  Commercial  —  How  the  News  was 
Received  in  Dayton — Remains  Brought  to  Dayton,  .  .  515 

CHAPTER  XXIII— THE  FUNERAL. 

Great  Concourse — Universal  Sorrow— Service  at  the  House — The 
Procession — Service  at  the  Grave — Interesting  Incident — The 
Death  of  Mrs.  Vallandigham, 536 

CHAPTER  XXIV— TRIBUTES  TO  HIS  MEMORY. 

Meeting  of  the  Dayton  Bar — Remarks  of  Judge  Lowe — Of  Hon.  P. 
Odlin— Speech  of  Senator  Thurman— Of  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox— Of 
Gen'l  McCook— Of  Hon.  L.  D.  Campbell— Remarks  of  G.  W. 
Houk,  Esq.,  and  Resolutions — Meeting  at  Cincinnati— Speech 


CON  T  E  IN  T  S  . 

I'AGK 

of  Hon.  W.  S.  Groesbeck — The  Press  on  his  Death — Boston 
Post  —  Chicago  Tribune  —  Cincinnati  Volksblatt  —  Cincinnati 
Volksfreund — New  York  Sun — Cincinnati  Enquirer — Eulogy 
of  Hon.  George  H.  Pendleton— Of  S.  W.  Gilson,  Esq.— 
Tribute  of  Hon.  J.  W.  Wall,  .  .  .  544 


PEEFACE. 


To  write  the  biography  of  a  near  and  beloved  relative  is 
a  difficult  and  delicate  task.  This  task  I  have  with  much 
diffidence  attempted,  and  I  feel  very  imperfectly  performed. 
From  my  own  personal  and  intimate"  knowledge  of  the  de 
ceased  ;  from  his  letters  and  speeches ;  and  from  the  recollec 
tions  of  many  who  were  long  acquainted  with  him:  I  have 
endeavored  faithfully  to  delineate  his  character. 

To  the  friends  who  have  aided  me  by  furnishing  facts,  in 
cidents,  and  recollections,  I  return  my  grateful  acknowledg 
ments. 

To  my  son,  James  L.  Vallandigham,  Esq.,  of  Hamilton, 
Ohio,  I  am  under  special  obligations,  particularly  in  the  polit 
ical  part  of  the  work. 

I  am  also  indebted  to  the  daily  and  weekly  papers  for  much 
valuable  information.  These  newspapers,  edited  as  they  gen 
erally  are  by  men  of  ability  and  culture,  with  their  intelligent 
correspondents,  devoting  themselves  to  the  business  of  collecting 
and  recording  with  fullness  and  minuteness  events  from  day 
to  day  as  they  occur,  are  the  rich  repositories  to  which  bio 
graphers  and  historians  must  necessarily  resort  to  obtain  much 
of  the  material  needed  in  the  performance  of  their  literary 
labors. 


Xll  P  B  E  F  A  C  E  . 

From  this  source  I  have  gathered  information  that  could 
be  obtained  from  no  other. 

Should  this  volume  prove  acceptable,  it  may  be  followed 
by  another  —  a  small  one  —  containing  Mr.  Vallandigham's 
Lecture  on  the  Bible,  and  selections  from  his  letters  and 
speeches. 

I  regret  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  prepare  a  more  worthy 
memorial  of  one  admired  for  his  talents,  honored  for  his 
integrity,  and  loved  for  his  amiability  with  the  warmest 
affection. 

J.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 
NEW  AKK,  DEL.,  Dec.  20, 1871, 


A    LIFE 


CLEMENT  L,  YALLANDIGHAM. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

ANCESTKY. 

THE  ancestors  of  CLEMENT  L.  YALLANDIGHAM  were,  on 
the  paternal  side,  Huguenots ;  on  the  maternal,  Scotch-Irish. 
From  the  family  records,  which  have  been  made  up  with  much 
care  and  after  thorough  investigation,  and  are  believed  to  be 
accurate,  we  gather  the  following. 

The  family  came  from  French  Flanders.  The  original 
name  was  VAN  LANDEGHEM  ;  and  some  of  the  name  lived 
near  Courtrai  570  years  ago.  They  were  knights  then,  and 
one  of  them  commanded  a  body  of  knights  under  the  "  Lion 
of  Flanders,"  at  the  battle  of  the  "Golden  Spurs,"  fought  near 
Courtrai  in  1302. 

MICHAEL  VAN  LANDEGHEM  and  JANE  his  wife,  who  were 
probably  the  first  of  the  name  who  came  to  this  country,  lived 
in  Stafford  County,  Virginia,  in  1690.  They  afterwards  re 
moved  to  what  was  then  Northumberland  County,  between  the 


2  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Kappahannock  and  Chesapeake  Bay.  There  their  son  Michael 
was  born  in  1705.  This  son,  prior  to  1738,  removed  to  Fair 
fax  County,  not  far  from  Alexandria,  where  he  became  a  lessee 
of  Lord  Fairfax.  He  married  Miss  Anne  Dawson  of  Nor 
thumberland  County.  It  was  during  his  life  that,  for  more 
agreeable  sound  and  easier  pronunciation,  the  name  was 
changed  from  VAN  LANDEGHEM  to  VALLANDIGHAM. 

MICHAEL  and  ANNE  VALLANDIGHAM  had  five  children, 
three  sons  and  two  daughters.  GEOEGE,  the  youngest  son 
(the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir),  was  born  about 
the  year  1736,  near  Alexandria,  Virginia.  Having  received  a 
good  education,  he  spent  several  of  his  earlier  years  in  teaching 
as  Principal  of  various  High  Schools  and  Academies  in  Vir 
ginia  and  Maryland,  meantime  studying  law  and  being  admitted 
to  the  bar.  During  this  period  of  his  life,  as  well  as  subse 
quently,  he  pursued  also  the  avocation  of  surveyor.  About 
1768  he  obtained  an  appointment  as  Principal  of  an  Academy 
in  Prince  George's  County,  Maryland,  where  he  resided  several 
years,  marrying  meantime  (about  1771)  Miss  ELIZABETH 
NOBLE,  daughter  of  Mr.  Joseph  Noble,  of  the  same  county. 
About  1774,  accompanied  by  several  families,  his  wife's  rela 
tives,  he  crossed  the  Alleganies  to  the  country  around  Fort  Pitt, 
and  selected  and  purchased  a  thousand  acres  of  excellent  land, 
on  Robinson's  Run,  then  in  Youghiogany  County,  Virginia, 
but  now  in  Allegany  County,  Pennsylvania.  In  the  many 
conflicts  with  the  Indians  which  occurred  at  that  time  and  in 
that  region,  he  took  an  active  part.  From  Lord  Dunmore  he 
received  the  rank  and  title  of  Colonel,  and  was  with  Dunmore 
in  the  expedition  against  the  Chillicothe  towns  in  1774.  He 
was  with  Colonel  Broadhead  in  the  expedition  up  the  Allegany 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    V ALLAN DlCrHAM.  3 

in  1779,  and  also  with  the  same  officer  in  the  expedition  against 
the  Delawares,  on  the  Muskingum,  in  1781.  In  his  civil 
capacity  also  he  occupied  a  high  and  useful  position  in  society. 
He  labored  faithfully  and  extensively  in  his  vocation  as  sur 
veyor,  was  for  many  years  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  between 
the  years  1780  and  1800  pursued  the  practice  of  law  in  Pitts- 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  and  Wellsburg,  Virginia. 

Against  the  famous  "  Whisky  Insurrection"  of  1791-4,  he 
bore  an  active  part,  and  suffered  persecution  accordingly.  He 
disapproved,  indeed,  of  the  excise,  but  thought  violent  and 
armed  resistance  an  improper  and  inexpedient  mode  of  opposi 
tion.  He  advocated  remonstrance  and  repeal  effected  by 
peaceable  means,  and  accordingly,  by  way  of  example,  drew  up 
and  circulated  a  remonstrance  against  the  law.  He  attended 
and  addressed  various  meetings  of  the  citizens,  and  though 
threatened  with  personal  violence  and  the  burning  of  his  house 
and  barns,  and  the  destruction  of  his  other  property,  hesitated 
not  to  avow  his  utter  opposition  to  the  rash  and  violent  meas 
ures  proposed  and  adopted.  His  courage  and  fearless  honesty 
commanded  respect,  and  though  acting  also  officially  in  his 
capacity  of  Justice  against  the  insurgents,  he  escaped  without 
harm.  Some  years  afterwards  he  was  a  candidate  for  Congress, 
and  partly  from  his  opposition  to  the  insurrection,  and  partly 
because  he  refused  to  furnish  the  customary  barrel  of  whisky  to 
the  electors,  suffered  an  honorable  defeat. 

In  religion  he  was  a  Presbyterian,  firm  himself,  tolerant  of 
others ;  a  strict  observer  of  tjie  Sabbath,  regular  in  his  attend 
ance  upon  public  and  private  worship,  in  heart  and  life,  in  walk 
and  conversation,  a  Christian.  For  the  cause  of  education  he 
did  all  that  the  circumstances  of  the  country  and  times  per- 


4  -LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

mitted,  and  was  among  the  earliest  supporters  and  patrons  of 
what  afterwards  became  Jefferson  College,  where  his  second  son 
graduated,  and  where  four  of  his  grandsons  and  one  of  his 
great-grandsons  were  educated. 

He  was  very  active  and  energetic  both  mentally  and  phy 
sically;  fluent  in  speech,  and  excelling  in  conversational 
powers.  He  was  amiable  in  disposition,  earnest  and  firm  in  his 
opinions,  and  diligent  in  the  discharge  of  duty.  Whatever  he 
willed  he  willed  strongly,  and  whatever  his  hands  found  to  do, 
he  did  it  with  his  might.  Courage,  as  well  moral  as  physical, 
was  a  pre-eminent  trait  in  his  character.  During  the  Insur 
rection  of  1794,  a  threat  was  made  to  tar  and  feather  him,  on  a 
particular  occasion,  in  case  he  should  appear  and  offer  oppo 
sition.  Hearing  of  the  threat,  he  went  forthwith  to  the  meeting 
of  the  insurgents,  addressed  them  in  a  long  and  earnest  speech, 
pointing  out  the  folly  and  illegality  of  their  course,  and  dared 
them  to  execute  their  threat.  He  returned  home  unmolested. 

Passing  through  a  long  and  useful  life,  during  which  he 
exerted  always  a  controlling  influence  on  all  around  him,  he 
died  011  the  4th  day  of  October,  1810,  at  the  house  of  one  of 
his  daughters,  aged  about  72. 

Perhaps  an  apology  is  due  for  so  extended  a  notice,  in  this 
place,  of  Col.  Vallandigham :  if  so,  it  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
between  him  and  his  grandson  whose  life  and  character  we  are 
about  to  exhibit,  there  were  many  striking  points  of  resemblance; 
and  besides,  we  have  thought  that  the  many  excellences  of  the 
man,  and  the  service  which  as  a  pioneer  he  rendered  to  the 
region  in  which  he  lived,  deserved  recognition  and  memorial. 
As  far  as  we  know,  no  sketch  of  his  life  and  services  has  ever 
been  published. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  5 

Col.  Vallandigham,  as  we  have  before  said,  married  Eliz 
abeth  Noble.  She  was  a  woman  of  intelligence,  refinement, 
and  worth.  Her  mother's  maiden  name  was  Dent.  Both  the 
Nobles  and  the  Dents  were  of  English  descent,  and  were  among 
the  earliest  and  most  respectable  settlers  in  the  State  of  Mary 
land. 

Col.  Vallandigham  had  five  children,  two  sons  and  three 
daughters.  The  second  son,  CLEMENT  (the  father  of  the  sub 
ject  of  this  memoir),  was  born  at  the  old  family  residence,  near 
Noblestown,  then  within  the  limits  of  Virginia,  now  Allegany 
County,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  7th  day  of  March,  1778.  He 
was  educated  at  Jefferson  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1804. 
There  being  at  that  time  no  theological  seminaries  in  the  Wes*- 
tern  country,  he  studied  divinity  under  the  private  tuition  of 
the  Eev.  John  McMillan,  D.  D.,  to  whom  many  of  the  early 
Presbyterian  ministers  of  the  West  were  indebted  for  their  theo 
logical  training.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  June  25,  1806. 
On  the  14th  day  of  May,  1807,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
REBECCA  LAIED,  of  Washington  County,  Pennsylvania.  They 
immediately  removed  to  New  Lisbon,  Ohio,  and  on  the  24th 
day  of  June  following  he  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  in  that  place.  There  he  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  during  the  whole  of  that  time  officiating 
as  pastor  of  that  church,  and  part  of  the  time  having  also  the 
charge  of  the  congregations  of  Long's  Run  and  Salem.  He 
was  a  man  of  fine  mind  and  a  good  scholar.  His  many  virtues 
endeared  him  to  his  friends,  while  so  pure  and  upright  was 
his  conduct  that  even  his  bitterest  enemy  could  say  nought 
against  the  integrity  of  his  character.  Of  no  man  could  it  be 
said  with  more  truth  than  of  him,  that  "  even  his  failings  leaned 


6  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

to  virtue's  side/'  One  striking  trait  of  his  character  was  firm 
ness.  He  would  do  whatever  he  was  convinced  was  right, 
regardless  of  consequences.  Though  naturally  extremely  sen 
sitive,  and  therefore  not  indifferent  to  the  approbation  or  censure 
of  those  around  him,  neither  the  desire  of  the  one  nor  the  fear 
of  the  other  could  induce  him  for  a  moment  to  swerve  from  the 
path  of  duty.  He  was  also  distinguished  for  hospitality. 
Although  accustomed  to  entertain  company  to  an  extent  that 
by  many  would  have  been  considered  oppressive,  and  that 
with  his  limited  income  he  was  ill  able  to  bear,  the  friend  and 
the  stranger  always  found  a  cordial  welcome  beneath  his  kind 
roof  and  at  his  hospitable  table.  He  was  likewise  remarkable 
for  amiability  of  disposition.  He  was  a  tender  and  affectionate 
husband,  a  kind  and  indulgent  parent,  and  a  sincere  and  faithful 
friend.  To  his  faithfulness  in  the  discharge  of  ministerial  duty, 
all  who  knew  him  bore  witness.  Hp  shunned  not  to  declare 
the  whole  counsel  of  God.  He  was  instant  in  season  and  out 
of  season.  He  attended  faithfully  to  the  stated  ministrations 
of  the  pulpit,  and  he  visited  his  flock  from  house  to  house.  He 
was  always  ready  to  administer  the  balm  of  consolation  to  the 
wounded  spirit,  to  soothe  the  couch  of  disease,  and  to  pay  the 
last  sad  offices  which  ministerial  duty  devolved  upon  him  to 
the  departed.  But  the  most  important  and  estimable  trait  of 
his  character  was  his  humble,  unfeigned  piety.  His  religion 
was  not  an  occasional  impulse,  but  a  steady,  unwavering  prin 
ciple.  His  conduct,  the  fruit  of  it,  was  uniformly  most  exem 
plary  ;  not  only  more  so  than  that  of  most  men,  but  more  so 
than  that  of  most  ministers.  The  writer,  during  a  very  long 
acquaintance  with  him,  never  knew  him  guilty  of  a  single  act 
by  which  his  piety  could  for  a  moment  be  called  in  question. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM,  7 

He  died  on  the  21st  day  of  October,  1839,  "greatly  beloved 
and  regretted  by  a  people  among  whom  his  ministerial  labors 
had  been  eminently  successful." 

JAMES  LAIRD  (the  maternal  grandfather  of  CLEMENT  L. 
VALLANDIGHAM)  was  born  in  the  county  of  Down,  Ireland, 
July  17,  1748.  He  was  of  Scotch  descent.  In  the  spring  of 
1766  he  left  Ireland  for  America,  where  he  landed  May  24,  in 
the  same  year.  He  settled  in  eastern  Pennsylvania,  and  on  the 
17th  of  November,  1769,  was  married  to  Mrs.  Martha  Black,  of 
Lancaster  County.  She  having  died  March  29,  1777,  he  was 
married  a  second  time,  July  3,  1788,  to  Miss  Margaret  Jane 
Sproat.  In  1795  he  emigrated  from  York  County  to  "Wash 
ington  County,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life,  pur 
suing  the  avocations  of  farmer  and  merchant.  He  died  August 
19,  1803,  leaving  six  children,  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
His  sons  were  all  men  of  more  than  ordinary  talents,  and  well 
educated :  two  of  them  were  graduates  of  Washington  College. 
One  of  them  became  a  distinguished  lawyer,  the  other  three 
were  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  His  daughter  REBECCA  (the 
mother  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir)  was  born  in  York 
County,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  20th  day  of  April,  1789.  Partly 
at  home,  and  partly  in  a  Female  Seminary  in  Washington,  she 
received  her  education.  When  quite  young  she  was  married, 
and  removed  with  her  husband  to  what  was  then  comparatively 
a  wilderness.  A  woman  of  superior  intellect,  of  great  energy, 
and  of  devoted  piety,  she  was  indeed  a  help-meet  for  her  hus 
band  in  his  arduous  labors  as  a  pioneer  minister  of  the  Gospel. 
She  managed  the  affairs  of  her  household  with  wisdom  and  dis 
cretion,  and  made  her  home  to  her  husband  and  children  and 
friends  a  home  of  sunshine  and  joy.  With  wonderful  tact  and 


8  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

skill  she  trained  up  her  children  and  a  large  number  of  grand 
children,  who  loved  her  with  the  warmest  affection,  and  to  whom 
her  memory  is  as  "  ointment  poured  forth,"  unspeakably  pre 
cious. 

She  died  on  the  8th  day  of  July,  1864,  esteemed  and  be 
loved  and  mourned  by  a  community  in  which  she  had  lived 
for  nearly  sixty  years. 


CHAPTER    II. 

BIRTH     AND     EARLY     DAYS. 

CLEMENT  LAIRD  VALLANDIGHAM  was  born  in  New 
Lisbon,  Columbiana  County,  Ohio,  on  the  29th  day  of  July, 
1820.  Of  the  seven  children  of  his  parents  he  was  the  fifth, 
there  being  two  sisters  and  two  brothers  older,  and  a  brother 
and  a  sister  younger.  This  younger  brother,  a  young  lawyer  of 
great  promise,  died  in  1850.  The  other  brothers  and  sisters 
still  survive.  His  father  received  for  his  ministerial  services 
the  amount  of  salary  that  was  customary  in  those  times  —  as 
large  perhaps  in  proportion  as  is  received  in  the  present  day  ; 
but  it  was  inadequate  to  his  support.  In  order  to  make  up  the 
deficiency,  and  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  his  four  sons  for 
college,  he  established  a  classical  school  in  his  own  house.  This 
school  was  continued  first  by  his  eldest,  and  afterwards  by  his 
second  son.  Here  were  taught  the  Armstrongs,  the  Begges', 
the  Blocksomes,  the  Brookes',  the  Grahams,  the  Harbaughs, 
the  Hessins,  the  McCooks,  the  McKaigs,  the  McMillans,  the 
Richardsons,  and  others ;  many  of  whom  have  occupied  posi 
tions  of  eminence  and  usefulness,  as  lawyers,  physicians,  min 
isters,  merchants,  &c.  Among  them  was  the  late  General  Win. 
T.  H.  Brookes,  a  gallant  officer  in  the  Mexican  war  and  in  the 
late  civil  war ;  and  Colonel  George  W.  McCook,  recently  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  of  Ohio. 


10  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDlGHAM. 

It  was  in  this  school  that  Clement  pursued  his  studies  pre 
paratory  to  entering  college,  and  even  at  that  early  age  dis 
played  those  abilities  for  which  he  was  afterwards  so  greatly 
distinguished.  Before  he  was  two  years  old  he  had  learned  the 
alphabet,  and  when  only  eight  commenced  the  study  of  Latin, 
and  by  the  time  he  had  completed  his  twelfth  year  he  had  read 
the  whole  Latin  and  Greek  course,  and  was  prepared  for  the 
junior  class  in  college.  He  was,  however,  considered  too  young 
to  be  sent  from  home,  and  for  a  number  of  years  he  spent  his 
time  in  reviewing  his  studies,  general  reading,  and  in  out-door 
sports  and  exercises  calculated  to  invigorate  the  body. 

At  this  time  he  was  accustomed,  of  his  own  accord,  to  rise 
at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning,  both  winter  and  summer,  and  fre 
quently  he  devoted  ten  or  twelve  hours  a  day  to  study.  The 
writer  has  before  him  a  little  note-book  kept  by  young  Yal- 
landigham  when  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  in  which  is  a  mem 
orandum  of  "  Time  spent  in  studying."  In  this  he  made  an 
entry  every  day  in  the  most  careful  manner.  As  an  illustra 
tion,  the  following  is  a  literal  transcript  of  one  of  the  entries : 

"Monday,  Jan.  23,  com.  15  p.  5  A.M.,  quit  8;  rec.  25 
p.  9,  quit  3  P.M.;  rec.  30  p.  4,  quit  15  p.  9;  rec.  20  of  10, 
quit  10.  Total,  12.25  min."  . 

This  careful  memorandum  of  the  hours  spent  in  study  he 
kept  from  the  14th  day  of  November,  1836,  until  the  25th  day 
of  January,  1837. 

Notwithstanding  his  studious  habits  as  a  boy,  he  was  fond  of 
out-door  sports,  although  never  very  fond  of  what  the  young 
sters  call  playing.  He  much  preferred  going  out  gunning  or 
fishing,  to  playing  ball,  or  any  of  the  other  games  so  eagerly 
pursued,  as  a  general  thing,  by  boys.  At  an  early  age  he  be- 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  11 

came  an  excellent  shot,  and  he  was  all  his  life  a  patient  and 
successful  ^herman.  At  this  time,  as  in  later  life,  his  patience 
and  perseverance  excited  the  amusement  as  well  as  the  admira 
tion  of  his  companions  when  he  went  on  a  fishing  excursion. 
Whilst  those  who  accompanied  him,  if  the  "  luck "  was  not 
good,  would  soon  become  restless,  and  disposed  to  try  first  one 
place  and  then  another,  he  would  choose  his  place,  and  remain 
there  with  all  the  taciturnity  and  endurance  of  an  Indian  until 
success  crowned  his  efforts  and  rewarded  his  patience ;  and  it 
was  a  matter  of  remark  that  however  hopeless  at  first  the  pros 
pect  seemed,  and  disheartened  his  companions  became,  he 
always  managed  in  the  end  to  catch  some  fish. 

The  adage  that  "  the  child  is  father  to  the  man  "  is  an  old 
and  trite  one.  Its  truth  however  is  so  undeniable  that  it  is  no 
source  of  wonder  to  find  that,  among  all  classes  of  readers  and 
thinkers,  there  is  exhibited  a  lively  desire  to  learn  something 
of  the  childhood  of  one  who  has  occupied  a  large  space  in  the 
attention  of  the  public.  The  impression  is  strongly  felt  that  in 
some  way  those  remarkable  traits  which  have  given  a  man  dis 
tinction  or  fame  must  have  been  displayed  at  an  early  period 
of  life,  before  the  mind  had  yet  matured,  and  before  the  expe 
rience  gained  by  contact  with  the  world,  in  its  various  rela 
tions,  had  produced  caution,  and  the  reticence  and  concealment 
of  feeling  which  are  the  natural  results  of  familiarity  with  the 
passions  and  the  frailties  of  human  nature.  As  a  boy  Mr. 
Vallandigham  displayed  many  of  those  characteristics  which 
afterwards  attracted  sometimes  the  admiration,  and  sometimes 
the  antagonism  of  his  fellow-men.  He  was  studious,  ambitious, 
courageous,  and  resolute  ;  ever  more  ready  to  meet  opposition 
half-way  than  to  evade  or  propitiate.  When  only  about  twelve 


12  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

years  old  he  was  one  day  walking  down  street  in  New  Lisbon, 
and  was  about  to  pass  a  crowd  of  rude  boys  upon  tta  side-walk. 
One  of  them  who  was  unacquainted  with  him,  thought  it  would 
be  a  good  j oke  to  give  him  a  fall.  Accordingly,  as  young  "Vallan- 
digham  was  about  passing,  he  suddenly  thrust  his  foot  out  in 
front  of  him  for  the  purpose  of  tripping  him.  The  quick  eye 
of  "Vallandigham  caught  the  movement,  and  halting  but  an 
instant,  he  suddenly  dealt  the  young  ruffian  a  blow,  so  rapidly 
delivered  and  so  violent  that  the  practical  joker  was  laid  upon 
the  ground  half-stunned,  and  then  without  a  word,  or  even 
looking  around,  he  calmly  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way. 
"Who  was  that  young  fellow?  who  is  he?"  exclaimed  the 
astonished  assailant  as  he  arose  to  his  feet.  "  Why,  it's  Clem. 
"Vallandigham,  and  you  had  better  let  him  alone,"  answered 
his  companions,  which  advice  he  was  very  willing  to  follow. 

An  incident  which  occurred  to  him  when  sojourning  tem 
porarily  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland,  serves  well  to 
show  the  firmness  of  his  character  whilst  he  was  still  in  years 
a  boy.  He  had  been  invited,  along  with  several  gay  young 
men,  most  of  them  older  than  himself,  to  a  supper-party  given 
by  a  hospitable  old  gentleman  of  that  most  hospitable  county 
of  Worcester.  The  host  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school, 
kind-hearted  and  jovial,  but  a  little  too  much  addicted  to  the 
use  of  the  "ardent."  After  a  hearty  repast,  liquors  were 
brought  in,  and  the  fun  soon  became  "  fast  and  furious."  At 
this  time,  and  indeed  up  to  1854,  Mr.  Vallandigham  not  only 
did  not  drink  liquor  of  any  kind  himself,  but  was  considered 
by  some  of  his  friends  almost  fanatical  in  his  views  upon  the 
temperance  question.  Accordingly  he  refused  at  the  very  com 
mencement  of  this  part  of  the  entertainment  to  partake,  and 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  13 

desired  to  excuse  himself  and  return  home,  as  his  further 
presence,  under  the  circumstances,  might  be  a  damper  to  the 
enjoyment  of  the  company.  But  his  host  would  not  listen  to 
this,  and  he  was  assured  that  his  scruples  on  the  subject  should 
be  regarded.  But  alas  !  the  promises  of  all  men  are  uncertain, 
and  this  is  more  especially  true  when  those  who  make  them 
are  in  the  habit  of  indulging  to  excess  in  the  use  of  stimulants ; 
and  as  the  wine  went  round,  and  each  one  became  more  reck 
less,  it  appeared  as  plain  to  our  gay  friends  as  if  it  were  a  reve 
lation,  that  if  Yallandigham  would  not  drink  of  his  own  accord 
it  was  their  duty  to  make  him  drink,  so  as  to  introduce  him  to 
the  pleasures  of  Bacchus, and  render  him  as  jolly  as  they  them 
selves  felt.  In  an  instant  he  was  surrounded  by  the  jovial 
youths,  and  they  swore  that  the  man  who  could  drink  and 
would  not,  should  be  made  to  drink.  Mr.  Vallandigham  now 
found  himself  in  a  most  embarrassing  situation.  The  young 
men  were  his  friends,  they  were  excited  by  liquor,  all  of  them 
high-spirited  and  brave,  and  now  perfectly  reckless,  and  they 
were  determined  that  he  should  drink.  Most  persons,  rather 
than  seem  ungracious,  and  some  because  of  the  danger  of 
refusal,  would  have  submitted;  but  he  was  made  of  sterner 
stuff.  Not  alone  did  his  conscientious  scruples  urge  him  to 
resistance,  but  he  was  incensed  that  forcible  means  should  be 
resorted  to  in  order  to  compel  him  to  violate  the  firm  determina 
tion  he  had  formed.  Extricating  himself  with  a  bound  from 
those  who  surrounded  him,  he  drew  his  pistol  and  solemnly 
warned  them  to  desist,  assuring  them  with  earnestness  and 
emphasis  that  he  would  die  before  he  would  submit  to  the 
indignity  threatened,  or  disregard  the  opinions  he  had  formed 
and  the  resolution  he  had  adopted  on  the  subject  of  drinking, 


14  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

by  tasting  a  drop.  This  produced  a  momentary  silence.  The 
young  men  were  brave,  but  they  saw  there  would  be  trouble, 
and  they  stopped  a  minute  to  think.  He  then  explained  to 
them  the  impropriety  of  their  conduct,  and  in  an  instant  peace 
was  made,  and  they  all  sat  down  satisfied.  He  shortly  after 
withdrew,  leaving  them  to  their  carousal,  which  was  kept  up 
to  the  "wee  smaj  hours,"  and  returned  alone  to  the  village 
whence  most  of  the  company  as  well  as  himself  had  come. 

The  Rev.  Clement  "V.  McKaig,  who  in  boyhood  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  has  furnished  the  fol 
lowing  recollections  of  his  early  days,  which  we  think  will  be 
interesting : 

"It  is  now  nearly  40  years  since  we  attended  the  same 
Academy  —  first  when  it  was  under  the  care  of  his  venerated 
father,  the  Rev.  Clement  Vallandigham,  pastor  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church,  New  Lisbon,  Ohio,  to  whom  it  owed  its  origin. 
We  were  together  also  when  the  Academy  was  taught  by  his 
brother,  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Vallandigham,  then  a  recent  graduate 
of  Jefferson  College,  Pa.  During  the  largest  part  of  the  time 
we  were  class-mates,  and  read  together  the  principal  portion  of 
both  the  Latin  and  Greek  course.  In  this  way  I  had  an 
opportunity  to  know  him  intimately.  In  person  he  was  slender, 
erect,  symmetrical,  and  finely  formed.  He  was  of  fair  com 
plexion,  with  a  bright  animated  eye  and  speaking  countenance. 
Altogether  he  was  strikingly  handsome.  In  disposition  he  was 
amiable,  kind  and  generous,  always  cheerful,  lively  and  social ; 
on  this  account  a  general  favorite  in  the  school.  In  morals  he 
was  remarkably  upright  and  exemplary.  I  cannot  now  re 
collect  that  he  was  addicted  to  any  vice  whatever,  even  of  a 
boyish  nature.  The  excellent  religious  training  and  example 
of  the  parental  household  seems  to  have  impressed  and  con 
trolled  him  to  an  extent  quite  unusual,  and  so  shaped  his  life  at 
this  period  that  it  was  to  a  high  degree  blameless.  In  the 
class,  as  in  all  school  exercises,  he  always  stood  high,  because 
he  was  both  industrious  and  ambitious.  Indeed,  ambition  to 
acquit  himself  well,  and  even  to  excel,  was  a  marked  trait  in  his 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  15 

character  from  his  earliest  school-days.  I  think  no  one  in  the 
school  manifested  such  a  laudable  pride  of  good  lessons,  or 
showed  so  much  manly  honorable  sensitiveness  on  this  point. 
He  scorned  the  idea  of  laziness  as  well  as  inability,  and  looked 
upon  both  as  alike  shameful.  I  remember  when  we  were  reading 
Virgil  and  Horace,  there  arose  in  the  class  a  good  deal  of  strife 
in  reference  to  long  lessons.  The  matter  of  long  lessons  was 
encouraged  by  the  Principal :  some,  however,  protested  and  com 
plained  bitterly.  But  Mr.  V.,  though  the  youngest,  never  ob 
jected  ;  on  the  contrary,  always  cordially  acceded  to  the  largest 
number  of  lines,  and  then  came  prepared  to  read  the  entire 
portion  that  had  been  assigned.  And  from  what  I  know  of 
him  I  am  sure  he  would  have  sat  up  half  or  all  the  night  for 
study,  had  it  been  necessary,  rather  than  have  asked  for  lessons 
any  shorter.  To  be  amply  prepared  for  everything  that  was  ex 
pected  of  him,  and  to  be  fully  equal  to  whatever  he  attempted, 
was  a  noticeable  feature  in  his  character.  Nor  was  it  so  much 
pride  as  principle  with  him.  He  felt  that  whatever  was  re 
quired  to  be  done,  could  be,  and  should  be  done,  and  should 
be  done  well ;  and  he  never  seemed  satisfied  with  himself  unless 
this  result  was  attained.  If  I  mistake  not,  this  feature  and 
habit  also  continued  with  him,  grew  with  his  growth;  and 
to  it  may  be  attributed,  in  an  eminent  degree,  much  of  his 
success  in  life. 

"  In  his  constitution  there  was  a  strong,  flowing  enthusiasm ; 
and  this,  combined  with  a  high  order  of  talent  and  a  vigorous 
unwearied  industry,  gained  for  him  the  position  of  acknow 
ledged  superiority.  Yet  he  never  claimed  such  a  position  for 
himself.  He  was  high-spirited  and  aspiring,  but  never  haughty, 
or  envious,  or  vaunting.  His  emulation  was  too  frank  and 
generous  to  excite  any  jealousy.  And  withal  he  was  so  ready 
to  encourage  and  assist  others,  and  so  unassuming  in  regard  to 
himself,  there  was  no  struggle  in  reference  to  place,  and  no  dis 
pute  in  respect  to  merit  or  proficiency. 

"  Apart  from  all  this,  we  might  note  here  as  characteristics 
of  mind  belonging  to  Mr.  V.,  activity,  love  of  acquisition,  readi 
ness  and  vivacity  of  communication.  He  delighted  to  exercise 
his  gifts.  He  never  shirked  any  duty.  He  counted  nothing  a 
task  that  promised  improvement.  Composition  and  discussion, 
disliked  and  shunned  by  most  young  students,  were  apparently 
a  pleasure  to  him.  He  was  therefore  uniformly  ready,  when 
ever  called  upon,  for  composition,  debate,  and  declamation.  It 


16  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

very  early  appeared  that  his  tastes  and  talents  had  a  peculiar 
adaptation  in  this  direction,  and  that  in  all  his  performances 
there  was  infused  such  a  life  and  relish  that  he  must  necessarily 
in  the  end  greatly  exceL  For  one  of  his  years  he  had  read 
considerable ;  his  memory  was  quick  and  retentive ;  his  imag 
ination,  if  not  brilliant,  was  chaste  and  prolific;  his  judgment 
discriminating,  his  language  pure,  easy,  and  quite  fluent,  and 
his  manner  pleasing  and  attractive.  On  suitable  occasions, 
whether  before  the  school  or  larger  audiences  on  '  Exhibition 
Day/  he  would  often  acquit  himself  with  the  highest  credit  and 
acceptance.  I  recollect  that  at  such  times  he  would  come  forth 
manly  and  graceful,  full  of  energy  and  earnestness,  face  glowing 
with  youthful  eloquence,  his  soul  absorbed  in  his  theme,  his 
thoughts  or  arguments  fresh  and  striking,  his  utterance  clear 
and  rapid.  He  was  therefore  sure  to  command  appreciation 
and  admiration.  Here  undoubtedly  was  foreshadowed,  not  by 
any  means  indistinctly,  that  element  of  power,  eloquence  and 
oratory,  which  afterwards  made  him  famous  as  a  lawyer,  and  a 
successful  popular  speaker.  He  never  was  a  mere  surface- 
bubble,  a  thing  to  glitter  and  deceive,  a  tyro  in  knowledge. 
He  mastered  whatever  he 'undertook.  He  thoroughly  inves 
tigated  whatever  he  attempted  to  elucidate.  His  knowledge 
was  accurate  as  well  as  comprehensive.  He  never  attempted 
to  lead  others,  except  as  an  honest,  intelligent  conviction  and 
careful  examination  impressed  his  own  mind.  Then  he  would 
appeal  to  the  reason  and  judgment  rather  than  the  impulse 
and  prejudice.  In  youth  he  was  free  from  pedantry  as  well  as 
sciolism,  and  could  never  be  charged  with  artful  trickery  in 
displaying  knowledge  simply  to  create  confidence  or  excite 
applause." 

A  composition,  written  by  him  when  sixteen  years  old,  indi 
cates  the  bent  of  his  mind  at  that  early  age,  and  the  ambition 
which  filled  his  soul  with  bright  visions  of  future  honor  and 
eminence : 

"  The  necessity  of  exertion  to  secure  intellectual  eminence" 

tl  This  is  not  a  land  upon  which  Nature  has  so  profusely 
scattered  her  gifts  that  we  may  live  without  labor.     We  inherit 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  17 

no  royal  estate,  no  hereditary  slaves  toil  for  our  subsistence 
while  we  live  in  luxury  and  idleness.  Our  very  existence 
depends  upon  our  exertion;  and  the  maxim,  Quisque  suce 
for  twice  faber,  is  here  emphatically  true.  While  exertion  is 
essentially  necessary  for  our  pecuniary  prosperity  in  this 
country,  it  is  much  more  so  to  secure  great  intellectual  emi 
nence.  As  soon  as  we  have  finished  our  college  studies  we  are 
thrown  upon  the  cold  heartless  world  to  struggle  for  ourselves. 
If  we  have  well  improved  our  time  and  talents  while  we  had 
the  opportunity,  wTe  may  meet  its  frowns  with  indifference,  or 
return  them  with  contempt.  There  is  much  to  encourage  and 
console  us  while  toiling  over  our  dreary  studies,  in  the  reflection 
that  whatever  we  determine  to  be,  by  proper  exertion  we  gen 
erally  may  be.  Demosthenes  determined  to  be  an  orator,  and 
his  success  affords  us  the  highest  encouragement.  Although 
not  fitted  by  nature  for  the  profession  which  he  had  chosen,  by 
application  and  diligence  he  was  enabled  to  overcome  her 
defects ;  and  now  while  the  names  of  millions  have  been 
buried  in  the  ocean  of  forgetfulness,  his  fame  gathers  fresh  lau 
rels  from  the  lapse  of  time.  When  we  are  tempted  to  give  up 
our  studies  in  despair,  let  us  remember  that  although  exertion 
may  now  be  painful  and  fatiguing,  we  shall  some  day  reap  the 
reward  of  our  toil.  The  experience  of  both  the  past  and  the 
present  teaches  us  the  truth  of  this  observation.  Although 
almost  all  desire  to  rise  to  eminence  in  their  lifetime,  and  to 
leave  to  future  generations  some  memento  of  their  former 
existence,  few  seem  to  realise  its  dependence  upon  themselves. 
They  appear  to  think  that  if  they  are  destined  to  be  great,  they 
will  be  so  without  any  exertion  on  their  part.  Thus  many, 
whom  application  and  study  might  raise  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  fame,  deluded  by  this  vain  supposition,  suffer  themselves  to 
drag  out  their  existence  in  a  miserable  mediocrity.  Others 
seem  to  think  that  the  great  design  of  life  is  to  live  in  idleness 
and  pleasure.  If  they  but  have  the  means  to  gratify  their 
animal  appetites  and  passions,  they  are  content  to  live  in  ob 
scurity  without  making  one  further  effort.  Thus  they  pass 
their  time  in  one  continual  round  of  pleasure  and  dissipation, 
regardless  of  the  future ;  and  when  the  hour  of  death  approaches, 
they  find  themselves  dying  without  having  done  a  single 
action  to  perpetuate  their  names.  Thus  they  descend  into  the 
grave,  ' unwept,  unhonored,  and  unsung;'  while  those  whose 
exertions  have  secured  them  immortality  and  fame,  are  followed 
2 


18  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

to  the  tomb  by  the  tears  and  regrets  of  millions.  'Tis  true  the 
bodies  of  both  lie  mouldering  in  the  dust ;  yet  while  the  one  is 
buried  in  merited  oblivion,  the  other  will  be  remembered  with 
honor  by  the  remotest  posterity.  Considering  then  the  dif 
ferent  lot  of  the  two,  who  would  not  prefer  the  latter  ?  Who 
would  not  forego  the  trifling  and  contemptible  gratification 
which  pleasure  bestows,  for  the  fame  of  Demosthenes,  even 
when  purchased  with  such  labor  and  toil  ?  Beauty  will  fade, 
wealth  will  vanish,  and  pleasure  gratify  us  for  but  a  few  short 
moments,  but  greatness  secured  by  exertion  will  never  decay." 

This  composition  as  a  literary  effort  may  not  be  better  than 
many  written  by  bright  boys  of  the  same  age  in  the  present 
day,  but  it  is  rendered  significant  and  worthy  of  consideration 
by  the  after-life  of  its  author.  The  line  of  conduct  by  it  indi 
cated  was  followed  by  him  throughout  his  busy  and  varied 
career,  and  the  high  and  earnest  ambition  thus  early  developed 
was  the  spur  which  continually  urged  him  on  to  wonderful 
exertion  in  his  professional  business  and  his  political  struggles. 
Cardinal  Wolsey,  according  to  the  immortal  bard  of  Avon, 
bade  Cromwell  "  fling  away  ambition  "  :  yet  it  is  an  honorable, 
an  ennobling  passion,  and  when  joined  to  a  high  sense  of  honor, 
integrity,  and  great  abilities,  its  existence  is  not  only  a  blessing 
to  the  possessor,  but  also  to  the  generation  in  which  he  lives, 
and  sometimes  many  generations  that  follow.  In  solitary  walks 
over  the  beautiful  hills  of  his  native  town,  in  constant  and 
close  application  to  study,  and  in  the  practice  of  oratory  in  the 
retirement  of  his  own  home,  long  before  he  had  arrived  at 
man's  estate,  young  Yallandigham  was  laying  up  those  stores 
of  knowledge  and  acquiring  that  mental  discipline  that  fitted 
him  for  the  busy  and  active  and  exciting  scenes  of  his  after-life. 


CHAPTER    III. 

COLLEGE    LIFE. 

IN  the  fall  of  1837  Clement  L.  Vallandigham  became  a 
student  of  Jefferson  College,  Canonsburg,  Pennsylvania.  He 
entered  the  Junior  class,  for  which  he  was  well  prepared, 
having  read  an  extensive  course  in  both  Latin  and  Greek,  and 
being  also  well  versed  in  the  other  branches  requisite  for 
admission  into  that  class.  He  remained  for  a  year,  diligently 
and  successfully  pursuing  his  studies,  and  at  the  same  time 
taking  a  deep  interest  and  an  active  part  in  the  exercises  of  the 
Franklin  Literary  Society,  of  which  he  was  a  leading  member. 
He  would  have  returned  the  following  year,  but  believing  that 
his  father  —  with  a  large  family  dependent  upon  him,  and 
health  somewhat  impaired  —  could  not  well  afford  the  means, 
he  resolved  that  by  teaching  he  would  himself  provide  the 
money  necessary  to  complete  his  education.  Having  accord 
ingly  obtained  the  appointment  of  Principal  of  Union  Academy 
in  Snow  Hill,  Worcester  county,  Maryland,  he  removed  to 
that  place  in  the  autumn  of  1838,  where  he  remained  for  two 
years.  There  he  faithfully  performed  his  duties  as  a  teacher, 
and  at  the  same  time  endeavored  to  store  and  discipline  his 
mind  by  constant  reading  and  study. 

The  Hon.  John,  R.  Franklin  a  companion  of  his  early 
days,  thus  writes  of  him,  in  a  letter  dated  Snow  Hill,  August 
17,  1871 :— 


20  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  Your  brother  Clement  and  myself  came  to  this  place  to 
reside  on  the  same  day  in  the  autumn  of  1838  —  he  to  take 
charge  of  the  Academy,  and  I  to  read  law.  His  room  and 
mine  adjoined,  and  we  were  as  intimate  as  it  was  possible  to  be. 
We  were  from  the  same  college,  our  aims  in  life  were  the 
same,  and  in  our  political  principles  we  differed  just  enough 
to  give  a  spice  to  our  social  intercourse.  His  life  here  was 
a  veiy  tranquil  one,  devoted  to  study  and  to  the  society 
of  his  friends.  I  remember  no  incidents  of  importance  by 
which  it  was  diversified.  He  was  an  undergraduate  when 
he  came  to  this  place,  and  he  carefully  kept  up  his  college 
studies ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  was  a  diligent  student 
of  history,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  committing  his  thoughts 
to  writing.  We  had  at  the  time  a  spirited  debating  society 
in  town,  of  which  he  was  an  active  member.  He  prepared 
himself  with  the  same  research  and  labor  for  our  little  tilts 
as  he  afterwards  did  for  the  larger  fields  in  which  he  was 
called  to  act  later  in  life.  Indeed  I  think  the  great  secret 
of  his  power  was  that  whatever  the  occasion  might  be,  he 
always  made  himself  master  of  the  situation.  About  this 
time  he  acquired  quite  a  reputation  as  a  temperance  speaker. 
Some  of  his  speeches  were  published  and  extensively  circu 
lated.  The  society  of  Snow  Hill  was  then  of  the  best.  I 
have  seldom  known  a  country  village  to  possess  so  much 
refinement  and  culture  as  were  to  be  found  here  at  that  time. 
He  was  one  of  the  ornaments  of  our  little  circle,  and  partici 
pated  in  all  its  gaieties.  Even  then  he  was  a  political  student 
—  not  of  the  newspapers,  but  of  those  writers  who  assisted  in 
framing  the  Constitution,  and  who  have  been  its  ablest  ex 
pounders.  I  well  remember  his  familiarity  with  the  Federalist. 
It  was  the  text-book  of  his  youth,  and  he  studied  it  thoroughly. 
His  principles  then  and  afterwards  were  mostly  drawn  from  its 
teachings.  You  know  how  the  whole  country  was  agitated  in 
1840.  I  believe  his  whole  family  were  Whigs ;  certainly  in 
this  place  all  his  friends  and  associates,  both  male  and  female, 
were  of  that  party ;  but  he  had  based  his  creed  upon  a  view 
of  the  Constitution  which  was  utterly  at  war  with  their  prin 
ciples  and  practice.  And  he  stood  up  almost  alone  against  the 
tempest  which  in  that  day  swept  everything  before  it.  His 
whole  life  has  been  but  an  exemplification  of  the  spirit  which 
he  then  displayed.  If  in  a  single  instance  he  has  ever  swerved, 
either  under  the  allurements  of  office  or  when  the  unscrupulous 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  21 

hand  of  despotic  power  was  laid  upon  him,  I  have  yet  to  hear 
it  whispered  in  any  quarter.  I  think  his  best  claim  to  the 
memory  and  gratitude  of  his  countrymen  is  that  he  never  was 
afraid  to  speak  the  truth." 

Irving  Spence,  Esq.,  who  was  one  of  his  pupils  when  he 
taught  in  Snow  Hill,  in  a  letter  dated  August  28,  1871,  thus 
gives  his  recollections  of  him : — 

"  When  Mr.  Vallandigham  came  to  Snow  Hill  as  Precep 
tor  of  Union  Academy,  I  was  only  twelve  years  of  age.  I  do 
not  think  his  age  exceeded  eighteen.  Perhaps  I  was  too  young 
to  be  a  judge  of  character,  but  my  recollections  of  some  traits 
which  impressed  me  thirty  years  ago  are  so  vivid  now  that  I 
must  note  them.  The  health  of  the  Assistant  Teacher  in  the 
Academy  failed,  and  he  was  compelled  to  give  up  teaching.  The 
advanced  class  in  the  Primary  department,  of  which  I  was  a 
member,  was  placed  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  V.  But  I  saw 
much  of  Mr.  "V.,  not  only  in  the  school-room,  but  at  the  house 
of  my  mother  and  in  the  families  of  my  relatives,  where  he  was 
a  frequent  guest. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  a  man  of  decided  character :  the 
traits  not  only  well  denned,  but  strong,  if  not  even  stern.  This 
was  so  much  the  case  that  when  he  first  came  into  our  commu 
nity  —  before  he  had  reached  his  majority  —  his  opinions  and 
convictions  were  as  firmly  settled  as  those  of  most  men  at  thirty, 
and  he  was  ever  ready  to  give  a  reason  for  his  faith ;  this  fact 
was  remarked  by  all  of  his  acquaintance  here.  He  was  not  a 
professor  of  religion,  but  a  regular  attendant  at  church  service, 
and  always  manifested  the  highest  respect  for  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  and  those  who  claimed  to  be  Christians.  He  had  a 
fixed  religious  as  well  as  political  creed,  and  whoever  attacked 
either  of  these  in  his  presence  had  a  bold  and  well-armed  op 
ponent.  In  person  he  was  remarkably  handsome;  of  much 
vivacity  of  temperament,  affable  in  manner,  and  consequently 
popular ;  but  extremely  sensitive  to  opposition  or  ridicule,  and 
an  insult  he  would  not  brook  even  at  the  risk  of  mortal  issue. 
In  the  school-room  he  exercised  strict,  perhaps  I  should  say 
stern  discipline ;  but  he  was  often  on  the  playground  with  the 
fcoys,  and  took  part  in  their  sports,  and  his  pupils  loved  him. 
He  had  a  high  reputation  as  a  teacher." 


22  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

In  the  latter  part  of  August,  1840,  he  left  Snow  Hill  and 
returned  to  his  home  in  New  Lisbon.  After  spending  some 
time  with  his  relatives  and  friends,  he  re-entered  college,  be 
coming  a  member  of  the  Senior  class.  At  that  time  there  were 
in  Jefferson  College  two  Literary  Societies  —  the  Franklin  and 
the  Philo,  and  it  was  customary  every  spring  to  have  a  contest 
between  them  in  debate,  composition,  and  declamation.  Each 
Society  in  the  fall,  or  early  in  the  winter,  \vould  choose  its  best 
debater,  composer,  and  speaker,  and  at  the  close  of  the  winter 
session  in  March,  these  contestors,  as  they  were  called,  would 
appear  before  the  public  and  exhibit  their  performances,  and  a 
committee  of  gentlemen  previously  selected  would  decide  upon 
their  merits.  Immediately  after  his  return  to  college,  Mr. 
Vallandigham  was  unanimously  elected  debater  for  his  Society. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  he  drew  up  certain  "  Rules  for 
Moral  Culture."  Whether  they  are  original  or  selected  we  do 
not  know,  but  present  them  just  as  we  find  them  in  his  hand 
writing.  They  were  evidently  intended  for  his  own  guidance. 

EULES  FOR  MORAL  CULTURE. 

1.  Live  in  habitual  communion  with  God. 

2.  Cultivate  a  grateful  spirit. 

3.  Cultivate  a  cheerful  spirit. 

4.  Cultivate  an  affectionate  spirit. 

5.  Let  not  the  attainment  of  happiness  be  your  direct  object. 

6.  Cultivate  decision  of  character.    Moral  courage:  Independence. 

Duty  to  our  NeigJibor. 

1.  Be  honest.  2.  Be  generous.  3.  Be  open-hearted.  4.  Be  polite 
(anecdote  of  the  drover).  5.  Be  a  good  neighbor. 

Claims  of  Society. 
Requisites,  to  meet  them. 

1.  A  serious  consideration  of  duties  and  prospects  before  us. 

2.  Intelligence.    3.  Upright  and  virtuous  character.    4.  Public  spirit. 
5.  Personal  religion. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  23 

Motives  to  urge  a  preparation  to  meet  tJiese  claims. 

1.  The  qualifications  demanded  are  within  your  power.    The  claims 

2.  Are  fixed  upon  you.    3.  The  value  of  the  interests  soon  to  be 
eommitted  to  you. 

Avoid 
1.    The  beginnings  of  evil.     2.  Skepticism  and  infidelity. 

1.  Have  an  object  in  view:  Aim  high. 

2.  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy. 

False  Principles. 

1.  Of  honor.  2.  Of  pleasure.  3.  Of  love  of  money.  4.  Love  of 
applause  (in  extreme).  5.  Cunning :  Non-com mittalism.  6.  Customary, 
ergo  right. 

Fundamental  Rule. 
Principle  of  unyielding  rectitude. 

Why  to  be  regarded. 

1.  Demanded  of  God.  2.  Of  invariable  and  universal  application. 
3.  Of  very  easy  application:  Costs  no  study.  4.  It  commands  respect. 
5.  The  best  policy. 

Formation  of  Character. 

1.  Form  a  picture  of  what  it  ought  to  be. 

2.  Make  the  picture  a  reality. 

3.  Character  to  be  formed  in  early  life. 

4.  Alta  petens  :  aliquid  immensum  infinitumque. 

5.  Associate  with  the  virtuous  and  excellent. 

Character  is  power  —  is  influence. 

CLEMT.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM, 

fan.  10,  1841.  Jefferson  College. 

Whether  these  "  Rules "  be  original  or  selected,  or  partly 
the  one  and  partly  the  other,  it  is  certainly  remarkable  that 
they  should  have  been  adopted  as  the  guide  of  his  conduct  by 
one  so  young;  and  it  is  still  more  remarkable  that  they  should 
have  been  so  strictly  adhered  to  —  that  amid  all  the  trials  and 
temptations  of  his  eventful  career  they  should  have  been  so 
strictly  obeyed  —  so  closely  followed  during  the  whole  of  his 
life. 


24  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

In  the  latter  part  of  January,  1841,  he  had  a  difficulty 
with  Dr.  Brown,  the  President  of  the  College.  The  Doctor 
was  an  able  President  and  an  excellent  man,  but  he  had  his 
faults.  He  was  very  positive  in  his  opinions,  and  impatient  of 
any  dissent  therefrom ;  and  he  was  often  hasty  and  impetuous, 
and  would  say  and  do  things  which  he  would  afterwards  ex 
ceedingly  regret.  He  was,  however,  magnanimous,  and  as 
soon  as  conscious  of  having  done  a  wrong  he  would  confess  it, 
and  ask  pardon  of  even  the  humblest  student.  The  quarrel 
between  him  and  young  Yallandigham  originated  in  a  recita 
tion  on  Constitutional  law.  The  latter  advanced  certain 
political  opinions  to  which  the  Doctor  objected,  and  which  he 
endeavored  to  refute.  Yallandigham  replied  respectfully,  but 
at  the  same  time  firmly  and  decidedly.  The  Doctor,  incensed  at 
the  assurance  and « pertinacity  with  which  he  defended  his 
opinions,  made  use  of  language  violent  and  insulting.  This 
Vallandigham  would  not  brook,  and  immediately  demanded  an 
honorable  dismission.  The  Doctor  promptly  gave  it  to  him, 
and  he  returned  to  the  old  homestead,  where  his  eldest  brother 
was  then  living,  and  with  him  commenced  the  study  of  law. 

In  March,  though  no  longer  connected  with  the  College,  he 
went  back  to  perform  his  part  in  the  contest,  and  made  a  very 
able  debate ;  but  the  decision  was  against  him.  The  question 
was  one  that  involved  the  doctrine  of  State  rights,  and  these 
rights  he  maintained  and  defended  to  the  fullest  extent,  and 
writh  the  utmost  boldness  and  earnestness ;  and  it  is  not  im 
probable  that  prejudice  against  these  doctrines  on  th'e  part  of 
the  judges,  though  insensible  to  themselves,  was  the  cause  of 
the  adverse  decision  —  a  decision  which  certainly  created  great 
dissatisfaction.  This  defeat,  though  no  doubt  keenly  felt  by 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  25 

Mr.  "Vallandigham,  exercised  no  permanent  influence  on  his 
character  or  conduct.  He  still  adhered  to  his  political  senti 
ments,  and  he  still  resolved  by  energy,  industry  and  perse 
verance  to  seek  and  secure  position  and  eminence  in  the  future. 
The  following,  originally  published  in  the  St.  Paul  Press, 
is  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  F.  T.  Brown,  D.  D.,  an  intimate 
college  friend  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  : — 

"  The  Freshman  year  of  my  college  course  was  spent  at  Jef 
ferson  College,  Pennsylvania,  and  soon  after  I  entered  there 
returned  there  a  young  man  who  had  left  at  the  close  of  his 
Junior  year,  two  years  before,  and  had  been  spending  the  in 
tervening  time  in  Maryland,  teaching,  to  replenish  his  rather 
scanty  purse.  He  now  re-entered  as  a  Senior  to  finish  his 
course.  His  coming  excited  unusual  interest,  for  he  was  con 
sidered  one  of  the  most  promising  men  the  College  had  ever 
had  in  training,  and  was  the  'bright  particular  star ?  of  his 
society  —  the  Franklin.  This  was  Clement  L.  Vallandigham : 
a  slender,  hawk-nosed,  eagle-eyed,  handsome  young  fellow. 
He  took  a  room  next  to  mine  in  a  small  boarding-house  where 
I  was  lodged  ( '  Aunt  Polly  Paxton's/  well-known  to  all  old 
Jefferson  boys),  and  we  soon  became  intimate  friends,  though 
he  was  a  Senior  and  I  a  Freshman,  and  though  he  was  a  Frank 
lin  and  I  a  Philo  —  both  contrary  to  established  college  cus 
toms.  Our  attachment  was  very  strong ;  at  least  I  loved  him 
warmly.  There  was  something  very  winning  in  him  ;  he  was 
handsome,  gentlemanly,  high-spirited,  and  genial,  but  quite 
dignified  and  a  little  reserved ;  he  had  few  intimate  friends, 
and  I  never  knew  him  to  engage  in  any  of  the  College  sports. 
He  was  a  close  student  and  stood  high  in  his  class,  but  his 
greatest  reputation  was  as  a  Society  debater,  in  which  he  was 
thought  to  have  no  equal  in  College.  His  morals  even  then 
were  so  pure,  and  his  life  every  way  was  so  exemplary,  that 
many  wondered  that  the  son  of  '  old  parson  Vallandigham ' 
was  not  a  member  of  the  church.  I  was  proud  of  his  friend 
ship,  and  in  my  personal  attachment  for  him  became  almost 
disloyal  to  the  Society  to  which  I  belonged.  I  was  not  con 
scious  of  this  till  the  annual  contest  was  coming  off  between 
the  two  Societies  (exciting  in  that  college  more  interest  than  the 


26  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

exercises  of  Commencement),  when  I  found  that,  though  a 
Philo,  my  sympathies  were  strongest  for  the  success  of  my 
friend  '  Clem./  who  was  one  of  the  contestants.  His  Society 
chose  him  by  acclamation  as  their  debater.  His  competitor 
was  a  Mr.  Mercur,  now  the  Hon.  Ulysses  Mercur,  M.  C.  from 
Pennsylvania.  The  question  discussed  has  always  seemed  to 
me  to  have  been  prophetic  of  C.  L.  V.'s  future  political  course. 
It  was,  in  substance  (I  have  forgotten  the  precise  phraseology) : 
£  Is  the  tendency  of  the  genius  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  toward  a  centralisation  of  power  in  the  general  Govern 
ment,  or  in  the  individual  States  ? '  Vallandigham  took  the 
side  of  the  individual  States,  and  under  that  banner  he  fought 
to  the  end  of  his  life.  Of  the  merits  of  the  debate  I  know 
nothing.  I  thought  at  the  time  that  my  friend  should  have 
had  the  'honor/  but  the  three  distinguished  judges  (Judge 
McCandlass,  of  Pittsburgh,  was,  I  think,  one  of  them)  thought 
otherwise,  and  gave  it  to  Mr.  Mercur.  Clem,  bore  his  defeat 
like  a  man,  and  went  home  to  his  brother's  house  at  New 
Lisbon,  Ohio,  to  study  law." 

The  following  recollections  are  from  the  pen  of  the  Hon. 
Sherrard  Clemens,  who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Vallan 
digham  in  college  and  after-life,  and  who  served  with  him  as  a 
member  of  Congress : 

"  I  became  acquainted  with  Clement  Laird  Vallandigham, 
some  time  about  the  year  1837,  at  Jefferson  College,  Washington 
County,  Pennsylvania,  then  under  the  Presidency  of  the  Rev. 
Mathew  Brown.  We  were  members  of  the  same  literary 
society,  and  my  attention  was  first  drawn  towards  him  by  the 
remarkable  powers  which  he  evinced  in  debate.  We  boarded 
near  together,  and  our  intimacy  soon  matured  into  warm  friend 
ship.  His  mother  and  my  mother  we  found  to  be  old  acquain 
tances,  and  this  ripened  the  association.  He  was  a  close  stu 
dent  ;  remarkably  exemplary  in  his  morals ;  of  great  energy 
of  purpose  and  determination  of  character ;  and  of  an  ambition 
which  mated  with  the  stars.  His  standing  in  his  class  was 
excellent,  and  his  mind  of  the  first  order.  It  was  very  easy  to 
see,  even  at  that  early  period,  that  he  was  destined  to  reach  a 
high  eminence  in  whatever  profession  he  embraced;  and  his 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM"  27 

standing  among  his  fellows  was  that  of  an  unquestioned  leader. 
His  manners  were  open,  genial  and  kind.  He  had  a  hand 
open  as  day  to  melting  charity.  He  was  full  of  spirit  and  a 
love  of  innocent  amusement,  and  from  all  these  combined  qual 
ities  was  deservedly  popular  among  all  the  students.  Accor 
dingly,  when  the  annual  contest  took  place  between  the  literary 
societies,  he  was  selected  the  champion  of  our  Society.  His 
opponent  was  Ulysses  Mercur,  formerly  a  judge,  and  lately  if 
not  now  a  member  of  Congress  in  the  Lower  House,  from  the 
Erie  District  in  Pennsylvania.  The  award  of  the  judges  in  the 
contest,  in  favor  of  Mercur  against  Vallandigham,  gave  great 
dissatisfaction,  and  to  no  one  more  than  myself.  Vallandigham 
was  deeply  chagrined  and  disappointed.  He  had  set  his  heart 
upon  a  triumph,  and  had  invoked  universal  good-will  among 
his  fellow-students ;  and  when  the  announcement  was  made  that 
he  had  lost  the  debate,  we  had  a  quasi  rebellion. 

"  His  whole  career  at  college  was  a  career  of  labor  and 
thought.  He  rarely  sought  outside  relaxation,  except  in  long 
walks  in  the  mornings  and  evenings ;  and  then  his  mind  was  in 
tent  upon  some  subject  of  moment,  or  something  pertaining  to 
his  course  of  study.  He  was  but  a  moderate  eater,  and  I  do 
not  remember  that  I  ever  saw  him,  while  at  college,  take  a  single 
glass  of  liquor.  While  other  students  had  their  convivialities, 
he  did  not,  so  far  as  I  ever  knew,  join  them.  He  seemed  to  be 
arrayed  in  armor  and  have  his  visor  well  down,  prepared  for 
the  conflict  of  life,  which  he  saw  was  not  far  off. 

"  At  this  time  there  was  a  large  number  of  Southern  stu 
dents,  liberally  provided  by  their  parents  with  money,  and  who 
frequently  went  on  sprees,  to  Pittsburg,  Washington,  and 
Wheeling.  These  I  never  knew  him  to  join.  They  often  gave 
oyster  and  other  suppers,  where  wine  flowed  freely.  These  I 
never  knew  him  to  take  part  in.  He  was  sensitive  and  proud, 
and  he  told  me  he  would  partake  of  no  hospitality  which  he 
could  not  return,  and  that  he  could  not  afford  the  means  to  do 
it.  He  therefore  kept  aloof,  and  passed  his  time  much  more 
profitably,  carrying  out  his  fixed  determination  to  allow  nothing 
to  interfere  with  his  own  elevation  in  life.  His  ambition  was 
early  developed,  and  was  with  him  an  intense  passion.  He  felt 
everything  depended  upon  him,  and  therefore  upon  himself  he 
lavished  whatever  of  skill,  labor,  or  art  he  could  command*  In 
this  he  never  appeared  to  relax.  He  seemed  to  look  forward, 


28  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

as  with  the  eye  of  a  seer,  to  the  position  he  afterwards  occupied 
in  the  country. 

"  In  his  own  way  he  was  fond  of  diversion  and  play,  and 
his  tastes  were  as  simple  and  innocent  as  those  of  a  child.  In 
his  close  devotion  to  study  this  mental  relaxation  was  of  great 
service  ;  for  he,  attempted  a  system  of  close  dietetic  treatment, 
under  the  plea  that  it  would  leave  his  mind  the  freer  to  act, 
and  for  a  time  he  fell  off  considerably  in  flesh ;  but  I  argued  and 
ridiculed  him  out  of  this,  and  the  exercise  he  took  soon  restored 
all  the  weight  he  had  lost. 

"  Perhaps  it  was  from  my  close  and  peculiar  association  with 
him,  but  I  regarded  him  as  by  far  the  brighest  intellect  at  Col 
lege.  He  presented  strong  characteristics  of  his  future  career ; 
and  I  predicted  for  him  then,  early  and  extensive  eminence. 
That  '  the  child  is  father  of  the  man '  is  in  his  case  most  con 
clusively  proved,  for  I  know  of  no  students  who  were  college- 
mates  of  his  who  have  attained  to  the  positions  and  who  have 
shown  the  same  capacity  to  grapple  successfully  with  the  world 
as  he  has  done.  He  was  in  some  respects  eccentric,  self-willed 
and  impatient  of  restraint ;  and  in  anything  he  took  very  much 
at  heart,  he  was  reckless  -of  opposition.  This  trait  was  early 
developed,  and  I  soon  saw  he  was  one  of  those  persons  who 
could  be  persuaded  with  a  hair  but  who  could  not  be  dragged 
with  a  log-chain.  This  trait  became  conspicuous  in  his  contest 
with  the  Administration  during  the  Civil  War,  in  his  exile  and 
his  return.  His  passions  were  high,  honorable,  warm,  and 
often  impulsive.  A  soft  word  would  win  him  when  hooks  of 
steel  could  not  drag  him  to  any  object  he  did  not  approve. 
His  devotion  to  his  mother  was  beautiful.  She  was  the  ocean 
to  the  river  of  his  thoughts.  The  evidence  of  careful  religions 
training  was  in  all  his  acts. 

"  He  was  prudent  in  expenditure,  moderate  in  his  wants, 
and  entirely  free  from  the  small  vices  which  so  easily  beset  a 
youth  at  the  outset  of  his  career.  Without  apparently  seeking 
popularity,  he  commanded  it  among  the  very  class  of  his 
associates  who  were  utterly  different  from  him  in  taste,  man 
ners  and  habits.  He  walked  among  them  preserving  his  own 
self-respect,  and  yet  with  an  attitude  of  conscious  superiority. 
He  was  a  fine  classical  scholar,  and  delighted  in  helping  out  his, 
less  favored  or  less  studious  companions  in  their  translations. 
I  have  known  him  to  devote  much  time  to  this  benevolent 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  29 

work,  to  enable  those  to  appear  at  class  who  had  passed  nights 
of  revelry  and  dissipation  instead  of  devoting  them  to  their 
books.  In  this  particular  he  was  an  unfailing  source  of  relief; 
and  '  old  Clem/  as  he  was  popularly  termed,  never  faltered  in 
it.  The  tribute  thus  paid  to  him  was  an  almost  unconscious 
compliment  not  only  to  his  innate  good-nature,  but  to  his  well- 
grounded  scholarship.  He  did  not  act  upon  the  philosophy  of 
Dean  Swift's  couplet  — 


"  '  The  lower  you  sink 
The  higher  I  aspire ' — 


but  he  seemed  desirous  to  lift  them  up  to  his  own  level,  to 
supply  their  deficiencies,  and  to  put  them  on  the  path  of  success. 
This  outcropping  of  good-nature  bore  its  fruits.  He  was  a 
favorite  among  those  who  generally  seek  their  intimates  among 
those  of  like  passions  and  frailties  •  and  when  the  selection  of  a 
contestant  in  debate  came,  and  each  one  desired  the  strongest 
man,  they  were  among  his  firmest  and  most  enthusiastic  sup 
porters.  He  had  the  faculty  of  making  strong  friends.  He 
was  exacting  in  his  love,  as  in  his  hate.  He  was  what  Dr. 
Johnson  termed  a  good  hater.  Capable  of  making  any  sacri 
fice  for  his  friends,  he  expected  to  find  the  same  spirit  in  return. 
This  resulted  from  the  very  energy  of  his  character,  which  was 
wonderful.  Undaunted  by  obstacles,  courageous  in  the  midst 
of  difficulties  and  dangers,  unappalled  by  disaster,  he  went 
right  on  to  the  accomplishment  of  an  object  in  a  mind  some 
what  akin  to  that  in  Addison's  Cato  — 

" ' '  Tis  not  in  mortals  to  command  success : 
We'll  do  more  —  we  will  deserve  it.' 

It  was  this  consciousness  of  enduring  power  that  sustained  and 
upheld  him  amidst  every  discouragement.  Sometimes  he  was 
unusually  despondent  —  self-poised,  and  his  soul  like  a  star 
dwelt  apart.  But  it  seemed  like  his  retirement  into  the  dark 
ness  of  a  cave,  the  better  to  enable  him  to  appreciate  the  light 
and  warmth  of  day. 

" '  Yet  when  all  our  soul  is  weary 
Of  life's  turmoil,  pain  and  whirl, 
And  we  strive  to  rend  the  curtain, 
Lo !  we  beat  'gainst  walls  of  pearl ! 
We  have  missed  the  crystal  doorway, 


30  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Or  the  keys  celestial  fail. 

While  we  wait  without  impatience 

For  the  lifting  of  the  veil. 

When  we  pine  with  restless  longing 

Some  long  vanished  form  to  view, 

Seems  this  veil  a  luminous  ether, 

Saintly  faces  beaming  through; 

And  we  almost  catch  the  whisper, 

Soft  as  sigh  of  summer's  gale, 

Almost  see  the  beckoning  finger 

At  the  lifting  of  the  veil.' 

"Whatever  his  own  discouragements  or  disappointments 
may  have  been,  although  he  indulged  in  seasons  of  unusual 
sadness,  there  was  never  a  tone  of  unmanly  complaint  about 
him;  there  seemed  to  run  through  his  whole  composition 
that  Calvinistic  faith  which  bears  the  cross  as  a  type  and 
symbol  of  regeneration  and  power.  To  be,  to  do,  and  to  suffer 
seemed  the  destiny  of  humanity ;  and  however  dark  the  clouds 
may  have  been  over  his  own  soul,  they  were  curtained  away  at 
last,  and  there  stood  out  the  eternal  cerulean  blue  of  the  firma 
ment  studded  with  myriads  of  stars. 

"  This  type  of  disposition  seems  to  be  common  to  all  sturdy, 
passionate  natures ;  at  all  events  it  was  true  of  him  at  the 
period  in  question.  As  his  dejection  was  sometimes  complete, 
so  his  mirth  was  all-abounding  and  contagious.  It  was  the 
contrast  of  the  sparkle  of  the  fireworks  as  they  go  up  and  the 
dark  blackened  stick  as  it  comes  down.  At  such  time  there  was 
an  infinite  sweetness  and  bonhommie  about  him.  To  adopt  the 
words  of  Emerson,  '  there  seemed  to  be  a  pool  of  honey  about 
his  heart  which  lubricated  all  his  speech  and  filled  all  his 
actions  with  fine  jets  of  the  sweetest  mead.'  Every  act  of 
struggling  is  in  itself  a  species  of  enjoyment;  every  hope  that 
crosses  the  mind,  every  high  resolve,  every  generous  sentiment, 
every  lofty  aspiration,  nay,  every  brave  despair,  is  at  last  a 
gleam  of  happiness  that  flings  its  illumination  upon  the  darkest 
destiny.  All  these  are  as  essentially  a  portion  of  human  life 
as  the  palpable  events  that  serve  as  landmarks  of  its  history, 
and  all  these  we  have  to  compute  before  we  can  fairly  judge  of 
the  prevailing  character  of  any  man." 

We  have  already  narrated  the  circumstances  that  led  to  Mr. 
Vallandigham's  withdrawal  from  College  within  a  few  months 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  31 

of  his  graduation.  It  is  proper  that  we  should  here  state  that 
Dr.  Brown  soon  regretted  the  temper  he  had  exhibited  and  the 
words  he  had  unadvisedly  spoken  which  led  to  this  with 
drawal  ;  but  there  seemed  no  way  then  to  rectify  the  error,  as 
it  was  well  understood  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  would  not, 
under  any  circumstances,  return  to  College. 

Some  years  after,  however,  Dr.  Brown  wrote  a  letter  ex 
planatory  and  apologetic,  offering  Mr.  Vallandigham  his 
diploma,  on  the  single  condition  that  he  should  apply  for  it  to 
the  Faculty  of  the  College.  This  he  refused  to  do  and  so 
never  received  his  diploma. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ENTRANCE    ON   POLITICAL    AND    PROFESSIONAL    CAREER. 

MR.  VALLANDIGHAM  commenced  the  study  of  politics 
when  only  sixteen  years  old,  but  did  not  become  an  active 
politician  till  four  years  later.  In  the  fall  of  1840  he  made 
his  first  political  speech.  It  was  at  a  Democratic  meeting  in 
Calcutta,  in  the  southern  part  of  his  native  county.  He  was 
then  rather  tall,  but  slender,  beardless,  boyish  in  appearance, 
but  with  the  voice  and  bearing  of  a  man.  He  spoke  for  an 
hour  with  an  ease  and  an  energy  that  astonished  the  sturdy 
farmers  and  mechanics  that  had  assembled  to  hear  the  youthful 
ocator.  Their  admiration  was  unbounded,  and  as  soon  as  he 
had  finished  they  bore  him  off  in  triumph  on  their  shoulders, 
and  from  that  time  he  was  one  of  the  leading  speakers  of  his 
party  in  the  county. 

Another  of  his  youthful  efforts  was  at  New  Midclletown,  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  county,  and  to  it  he  thus  refers  in  a 
speech  made  at  the  same  place,  August  9,  1867  :  — 

"  I  have  been  asked,  Vhy  select  a  village  so  comparatively 
obscure  —  and  I  hope  no  offence  will  be  taken  when  I  speak  of 
it  as  such — and  so  far  from  the  railroads  which  have  sprung  up 
in  the  country  since  the  olden  time  ?  There  are  two  reasons ; 
and  the  first  reason  is,  it  was  glorious  old  Springfield  township 
that,  when  I  was  a  boy,  saved  the  Democratic  Congressman  in 
the  district,  and  the  Democratic  county  to  which  it  then 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAH.  33 

belonged,  in  the  memorable  campaign  of  1840.  Without 
detailing  circumstances  which  I  have  elsewhere  related,  permit 
me  to  say  that,  confident  of  victory,  the  boy  had  remained  out 
late  to  hear  the  returns.  Every  township  came  in  with  a 
Whig  majority,  and  wre  had  begun  to  despair.  At  about 
1  o'clock  the  Democratic  party  was  beaten,  and  we  all  felt 
badly.  At  about  4  o'clock,  however,  we  heard  the  tramp  of 
horses7  hoofs  down  the  hill  from  New  Lisbon,  and  behold !  old 
Springfield  township  had  not  only  held  its  own,  but  had  given 
a  hundred  more  of  a  Democratic  majority  than  ever  before,  or 
at  any  time  since,  which  elected  our  Congressman  by  fifty- 
two  votes,  and  saved  Columbiana  County,  to  which  it  then 
belonged,  to  the  Democratic  party  for  many  years  after.  That 
is  to  me  a  very  pleasant  recollection,  and  it  was  one  of  the  rea 
sons  why  I  accepted  your  invitation.  Very  pleasant  too  is  the 
recollection  that  here,  in  New  "Middletown,  I  made  one  of  my 
first  efforts  at  public  speaking.  I  shall  not  soon  forget  that, 
when  '  a  youth  to  fortune  and  to  fame  unknown/  nevertheless 
ready  and  willing  to  do  my  part  and  {)ear  my  share  of  the 
burden  in  the  great  campaign  between  Clay  and  Polk  in  1844, 
I  found  myself  announced  at  the  tail  end  of  a  hand-bill  in  very 
small  letters  as  one  of  the  speakers.  The  ( lions '  were  all  in 
large  type,  as  was  becoming;  but  it  was  expected  in  those  days 
that  young  men  would  stand  back  and  wait  until  near  the 
going  down  of  the  sun.  The  seniors  spoke  long  and  loud  and 
eloquently,  until  in  my  youthful  jealousy,  natural  as  it  was,  I 
thought  they  meant  to  speak  me  out  of  time.  The  shadows 
were  falling  long  from  these  tall  trees  when  at  last  all  the 
other  speakers  concluded  and  the  ludience  were  about  to 
disperse,  but  some  there  were  who  resolved  to  stay  and  hear 
the  boy.  I  came  to  the  platform  as  many  of  the  wagons  were 
going  away;  still  I  had  reason  to  be  satisfied  if  a  few  were 
content  to  stay,  and  it  creates  a  sense  of  triumph  even  to  this 
day  to  remember  that  many  gathered  in  their  teams  as  soon  as 
I  had  commenced,  and  the  crowd  was  larger  in  the  evening 
than  it  had  been  during  the  entire  day." 

It  was    customary  in  those  days  for  the  Whig  and  the 
Democratic  speakers  to  meet  at  various  places  in  the  county 
and  discuss  before  the  people  the  points  at  issue  between  the 
3 


34  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

parties.  In  these  debates  young  Vallandigham  participated. 
At  first,  the  Whig  orators,  who  were  generally  middle-aged 
men  —  some  of  them  gray-headed — were  disposed  to  sneer  at 
the  "  beardless  boy,"  as  they  called  him ;  but  the  spirit  with 
which  he  replied  to  their  personalities,  and  the  severity  and 
fearless  energy  with  which  he  repelled  their  assaults,  speedily 
put  an  end  to  this.  The  knowledge  which  he  displayed  on  the 
subjects  at  issue,  his  fluency  in  debate,  and  his  manly  courage, 
commanded  their  respect,  and  the  ablest  of  them  all  soon  felt 
that  in  encountering  the  youthful  speaker  he  met  "  a  foeman 
worthy  of  his  steel." 

It  was  during  this  period  that  he  had  a  rencounter  on  the 
streets  of  New  Lisbon  that  is  perhaps  worthy  of  mention. 
The  night  before  the  election  he  had  addressed  a  meeting  in 
one  of  the  neighboring  villages,  and  in  the  course  of  his  speech 
made  a  playful  allusion  to  Mr.  G.,  a  prominent  Whig  of 
New  Lisbon.  The  account  of  it  was  borne  that  same  night  to 
Mr.  Q.,  no  doubt  greatly  exaggerated,  for  there  was  in  reality 
no  just  ground  of  offence  in  the  remark  that  was  made.  Mr. 
G.,  however,  was  incensed,  and  determined  to  inflict  personal 
chastisement;  and  arming  himself  with  a  heavy  cane,  as  Mr. 
Vallandigham  passed  by  his  door  next  morning  he  violently 
assaulted  him.  The  blow  was  aimed  at  his  head,  but  Mr.  Val 
landigham  parried  it  with  his  hand,  wrested  the  cane  from  the 
grasp  of  his  assailant,  and  with  it  instantly  felled  him  to  the 
pavement.  Mr.  G.  was  carried  into  the  house  bleeding  and 
insensible.  In  the  meantime  a  crowd  had  assembled.  Mr. 
Vallandigham's  friends  led  him  away  (a  mob  following  with 
clubs  and  stones)  to  the  house  of  Mr.  B.,  who,  though  a  political 
opponent,  was  a  personal  friend.  There  the  wound  he  had  re- 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  35 

ceived  —  a  very  slight  one  —  was  dressed,  and  he  remained  for 
some  time,  the  crowd  outside  clamoring  for  vengeance.  Learn 
ing  however  that  he  was  needed  at  his  office,  he  prepared  to  leave. 
His  friends,  especially  the  ladies  in  the  house,  urged  him  to 
pass  through  the  back  door  and  down  a  back  street,  for  fear  of 
personal  violence.  This  he  refused  to  do :  he  was  born,  he  said, 
and  had  been  raised  in  New  Lisbon,  and  no  man  and  no  com 
bination  of  men  should  prevent  him  at  any  time  or  under  any 
circumstances  from  freely  walking  its  streets.  Pie  accordingly 
went  out  in  front,  walked  down  Walnut  street  to  his  office,  his 
friends  congratulating  him  on  the  way,  and  his  enemies  keeping 
at  a  respectful  distance.  The  effect  of  this  was  most  salutary. 
His  enemies  learned  that  he  had  the  courage  and  the  skill  and  the 
ability  to  defend  himself,  and  he  was  never  afterwards  molested. 

The  first  law-case  in  which  ho  was  engaged,  and  his  first 
speech  to  a  jury,  was  when  he  was  still  a  student  of  law,  not 
yet  admitted  to  the  Bar.  His  client  on  that  occasion  was  an 
honest  old  Quaker  who  had  been  grossly  cheated  in  a  horse-trade 
by  a  cunning  and  unscrupulous  horse-jockey.  It  was  said  by 
a  distinguished  lawyer  many  years  ago  that  there  never  was  a 
horse-trade  without  cheating  and  lying  by  tme  or  the  other  party 
to  the  transaction,  or  by  both;  and  indeed  this  seems  to  be 
true,  for  the  writer  has  known  men  who  appeared  to  be  con 
scientious  and  to  have  a  regard  for  veracity  in  everything  else 
except  the  negotiations  pertaining  to  a  trade  of  horses.  Some 
student  of  psychology  should  investigate  this  peculiarity  of  the 
human  mind :  we  have  not  time  to  enlarge  upon  it  now,  nor 
even  to  suggest  a  theory  to  account  for  it. 

The  case  was  tried  in  Salem,  Columbiana  County.  There 
was  great  interest  manifested  by  the  neighborhood;  and  the 


36  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Justice,  finding  his  office  entirely  too  small,  adjourned  to  a 
large  carpenter-shop  hastily  fitted  up  for  the  occasion.  The 
shop  was  soon  filled  with  an  audience  anxious  to  listen  to-  the 
case,  and  who  remained  till  after  midnight  to  see  the  close. 
The  horse-jockey  was  defended  by  a  lawyer  of  age  and  ex 
perience,  who  was  unsparing  in  his  exertions  and  fought  every 
inch  of  ground.  The  whole  day  was  spent  in  the  examination 
of  witnesses,  and  it  was  late  in  the  night  before  the  argument 
was  commenced.  The  speech  made  by  the  beardless  youth 
Vallandigham  astonished  every  one  present.  He  spoke  for 
nearly  an  hour  with  the  greatest  force  and  earnestness.  His 
remarks  in  regard  to  the  defendant  and  denunciations  of  his 
dishonesty  were  so  severe  that,  burning  with  wrath,  he  arose 
in  his  place  and  threatened  a  severe  castigation  unless  the  boy 
(Mr.  V.)  would  desist,  upon  which  young  Vallandigham 
defied  him  in  the  fiercest  manner,  and  administered  such  a 
rebuke  to  the  bullying  jockey  that  the  latter  wras  glad  to  get 
away  from  the  sound  of  his  voice.  This  trial,  though  the 
amount  involved  was  small,  was  long  remembered  in  the 
neighborhood;  and  the  effort  of  Mr.  Yallandigham,  young 
and  inexperienced  a%  he  then  was,  produced  a  deep  and  pro 
found  impression. 

As  a  student  of  law  he  was  diligent  and  attentive,  devoting 
much  time  also  to  general  reading  and  literary  culture)  and 
taking  an  active  part  in  politics.  On  the  5th  day  of  December, 
1842,  at  Columbus,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme 
and  other  courts  of  the  State.  On  his  return  home  he  became 
a  partner  of  his  eldest  brother,  who  was  then  practising  law  in 
New  Lisbon.  This  brother  in  the  course  of  a  year  left  the 
bar  and  entered  the  ministry,  and  he  continued  the  practice 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  37 

alone.     The  following  notice  of  his  first  speech  after  admission 
to  the  bar,  we  find  in  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer: — 

"A  friend  of  ours  in  the  Enquirer  office  remembers  hearing 
Mr.  Yallandigham  deliver  his  first  address  at  the  bar.  Judge 
Belden,  Mr.  Upham,  and  other  distinguished  lawyers  who  were 
present,  characterised  it  as  the  most  brilliant  effort  they  had 
ever  listened  to.  It  was  in  New  Lisbon,  Columbiana  County, 
and  all  the  bystanders  were  struck  with  a  promise  of  greatness 
which  the  future  so  wonderfully  realised." 

Mr.  Yallandigham  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  pro 
fession  with  his  accustomed  energy  and  prosecuted  it  with 
characteristic  diligence,  and  so  great  was  his  success  that  in 
four  years  his  practice  was  equal  to  that  of  the  oldest  and 
ablest  member  of  the  New  Lisbon  bar.  Yet  he  gave  a  large 
portion  of  his  time  to  politics.  He  thoroughly  studied  the 
science,  and  took  a  prominent  and  active  part  in  every  political 
campaign.  Indeed  he  greatly  preferred  politics  to  law ;  and 
had  he  been  successful  in  his  political  aspirations,  it  is  probable 
that  ultimately  he  would  have  abandoned  the  practice  of  law 
altogether. 

In  August,  1843,  he  placed  on  record  in  his  note-book  the 
following 

"FIXED  RULES 

"  Of  political  conduct  to  guide  me  as  a  statesman,  in  no  instance 
and  under  no  circumstances  to  be  relaxed  or  violated,  and 
this  by  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God. 

"  1.  Always  to  pursue  what  is  honest,  right  and  just,  though 
adverse  to  the  apparent  and  present  interests  of  the  country, 
well  assured  that  what  is  not  right  can  not  in  the  long  run  be 
expedient. 

"  2.  Always  to  prefer  my  country  and  the  whole  country 
before  any  and  all  considerations  of  mere  party. 


38  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  3.  In  all  things  coolly  to  ascertain  and  with  stern  inde 
pendence  to  pursue  the  dictates  of  my  judgment  and  my  con 
science,  regardless  of  the  consequences  to  party  or  self. 

"  4.  As  far  as  consistent  with  the  national  honor  and  safety, 
and  with  justice  to  the  country,  to  seek  peace  with  all  nations, 
and  to  pursue  it,  persuaded  that  a  pacific  policy  is  the  true 
wisdom  of  a  State,  and  war  its  folly ;  yet  as  resolved  to  demand 
nothing  but  what  is  right,  so  to  submit  to  nothing  wrong. 

"  5.  Sedulously  at  all  times  and  in  every  place  to  calm  and 
harmonise  the  conflicting  interests  and  sectional  jealousies  of 
the  different  divisions  of  the  Eepublic,  and  especially  of  the 
North  and  South;  and  with  steady  perseverance,  under  all 
circumstances,  to  uphold  and  cement  the  union  of  the  States  as 
the  '  palladium  of  our  political  safety  and  prosperity/  except  at 
the  sacrifice  of  the  just  constitutional  liberties  and  inalienable 
rights  of  oppressed  minorities. 

"  6.  Without  infringing  the  rights  of  conscience,  always  to 
countenance  and  support  religion,  morality,  and  education,  as 
essential  to  the  well-being  of  a  free  government;  and  in  all 
things  to  acknowledge  the  superintending  providence  of  an 
All- Wise,  Most  Just,  and  Beneficent  God  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Eepublic." 

With  these  fixed  rules  of  political  conduct  he  commenced 
his  active  and  eventful  career.  The  tenacity  with  which  he 
adhered  to  them,  and  the  consequences  of  this  rigid  adherence, 
will  be  seen  in  the  pages  that  follow. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

IN     THE    LEGISLATURE     OF     OHIO. 

IN  the  summer  of  1845,  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  unani 
mously  nominated  by  the  Democratic  party  of  his  native  county 
as  one  of  their  candidates  for  Representative  in  the  State  Legis 
lature  ;  and  in  October  of  the  same  year,  having  just  attained 
the  constitutional  age,  was  elected  without  opposition.  The 
Legislature  met  on  the  first  day  of  December,  1845,  and  he 
took  his  seat,  the  youngest  member  of  the  body.  Previous  to 
leaving  home  he  laid  down  the  following  "  Rules  "  for  his  con 
duct  as  a  legislator : — 

"1.  To  avoid  interfering  in  merely  local  matters,  unless 
they  involve  a  grave  general  principle. 

"  2.  To  avoid  with  persevering  resolution  all  connection  or 
mingling  with  the  petty  factions  or  personal  jealousies  and  quar 
rels  of  political  friends,  and  of  foes  also;  if  necessary  to  act  in 
any  way  in  them,  to  do  it  as  an  ( armed  neutral/  manifesting  at 
the  same  time  that  I  act  as  a  patriot,  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and 
not  from  feeling  as  a  partisan. 

"  3.  To  speak  but  rarely,  and  never  without  having  made 
myself  complete  and  thorough  master  of  the  subject;  so  that 
when  I  rise,  every  one  may  expect  to  hear  something  worth 
listening  to.  No  error  is  more  fatal  to  influence  in  a  delibera 
tive  assembly  than  the  violation  of  this  plain  rule :  '  Verily,  ye 
are  not  heard  for  your  much  speaking/ 

"  4.  Always  to  bear  in  mind  the  dignity  and  responsibility 
of  my  station,  remembering  that,  by  the  favor  of  my  fellow- 
oitizens,  I  am  a  part  of  the  Government,  and  that  human  gov 
ernment  is  the  vicegerency  of  Heaven,  and  the  highest  exertion 
of  human  power." 


40  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Mr.  Vallandigham's  first  effort  was  made  on  the  8th  of 
December,  upon  a  motion  to  print  the  reports  of  the  Benevolent 
Institutions  of  the  State.  The  following  is  an  extract : — 

"  If  there  be  any  one  thing  more  than  another  to  which  the 
citizens  of  Ohio  may  point  with  proud  and  generous  exultation, 
it  is  to  her  public  asylums,  to  her  common  schools,  to  her  State 
prison,  by  which  she  has  acquired  so  lofty  and  honorable  a  pre 
eminence  among  her  sisters  of  the  confederacy.  Not  the  soil 
of  Ohio,  not  her  climate,  not  the  extent  of  her  territory,  nor  the 
multiplied  variety  of  her  productions ;  not  even  the  majestic 
river  which  washes  her  base  ;  not  the  multitude  of  her  teeming 
population,  nor  her  wealth,  nor  her  resources,  nor  her  rapid 
growth,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  States,  challenging  the 
wonder  of  the  world,  and  realising  the  magic  creations  of  the 
lamp  in  Oriental  fable ;  not  any  thing  in  her  whole  history,  and 
character  has  contributed  one  half  so  much  to  elicit  the  eulogy 
and  admiration  of  the  intelligent  and  enlightened  of  Europe 
and  America,  as  the  asylums  and  other  public  institutions  which 
the  generous  benevolence  of  the  people  of  Ohio  has  consecrated 
to  the  relief  and  solace  of  those  whom,  otherwise,  the  misfortune 
of  birth  or  the  accidents  of  life  must  have  consigned  to  hopeless 
despair.  For  my  own  part,  Sir,  I  never  turn  my  eyes  or  direct 
my  thoughts  toward  these  buildings  —  these  living  monuments 
of  a  lofty  and  sublime  charity — and  to  our  common  schools, 
without  the  wTarm  feelings  of  a  heart  —  patriotic,  I  trust — swell 
ing  unconsciously  in  my  bosom,  and  breaking  from  my  lips, 
though  in  solitude,  in  audible  accents,  'I  am  a  citizen  of  Ohio/ 
"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  not  mean,  upon  this  or  upon  any  occa 
sion,  to  indulge  on  this  floor  in  mere  school-boy  declamation. 
I  desire,  now  and  always,  to  speak  in  language  becoming  the 
representative  in  part  of  this  great  people.  But  be  assured  — 
be  assured  —  that  these  are  the  institutions  which  constitute  the 
true  glory  and  greatness  of  a  State.  Be  assured,  that  when 
banks  and  tariffs,  and  all  other  fleeting  topics  of  the  day  we 
live  in  shall  have  descended  to  the  oblivion  which  awaits  them 
alike;  when  your  senate  chambers,  your  halls  of  justice,  and 
your  monuments  shall  have  bowed  themselves  to  the  dust; 
when  you  and  I,  Mr.  Speaker,  shall  '  sleep  in  dull,  cold  mar 
ble  ;'  nay,  when,  after  the  lapse  of  some  centuries.,  this  Union 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  41 

shall  have  been  dissolved,  our  political  institutions  decayed, 
their  vital  spirit  yielded  up,  our  greatness  all  gone,  and  even 
our  language  ceased  to  fall  from  living  lips,  be  assured,  Sir,  that 
the  future  historian  of  Ohio,  writing  her  history  in  a  tongue  a£ 
yet  unformed,  will  record  as  foremost  and  proudest  among  her 
glories  these  very  institutions  which,  with  great  humbleness, 
yet  in  all  singleness  of  heart,  I  have  thus  eulogised." 

This  subject  was  selected  by  him  purposely,  because  it  did 
not  involve  party  feeling,  and  the  speech  was  extremely  well 
received  by  members  of  both  parties.  In  the  editorial  corres 
pondence  of  the  Lancaster  (Ohio)  Eagle  it  was  thus  noticed : — 

'c  The  youngest  Democratic  member  in  the  House,  Mr.  Val- 
landigham,  made  his  debut  to-day,  on  a  resolution  to  print 
documents.  It  was  a  brilliant  effort,  and  produced  an  electric 
effect  upon  the  House.  He  is  a  splendid  young  man." 

On  the  first  day  of  the  session  he  had  been  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections,  and  on 
the  9th  submitted  a  carefully  prepared  report  upon  the  question 
of  the  eligibility  of  officers  of  the  State  Bank  to  a  seat  in  the 
Legislature,  maintaining,  in  opposition  to  a  majority  of  his 
party,  that  they  were  not  constitutionally  disqualified.  Soon 
after,  on  the  18th,  from  the  minority  of  the  committee,  he  made 
a  very  elaborate  report  upon  the  question  of  "  Legislative  Dis 
tricts/7  in  the  Morgan  County  contested  election.  The  report 
attracted  great  attention  in  the  House  and  throughout  the  State. 
Hon.  Samson  Mason,  a  distinguished  Whig,  who,  as  chairman 
of  the  committee,  had  submitted  the  report  of  the  majority, 
said,  in  debate,  that  "  the  report  of  the  minority  was  an  able 
one,  and  highly  creditable  to  the  talents  of  the  gentleman  who 
had  made  it."  And  Mr.  C.  C.  Hazewell,  then  editor  of  the 
Ohio  Statesman,  speaking  of  it,  said,  "  Columbiana  County  may 


42  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

well  be  proud  of  lie  young  member,  who  has  already  aehieved 
for  himself  an  enviable  name  as  a  debater  for  skill  and  fair 
ness,  and  as  a  writer  at  once  powerful  and  dignified.  He  is  one, 
also,  who  does  not  think  it  necessary  to  disgrace  great  talents 
by  buffoonery  and  immorality  in  order  to  achieve  a  sudden 
notoriety." 

On  the  30th,  Mr.  Vallandigham  spoke  briefly  in  favor  of 
the  bill  to  repeal  the  Ohio  State  Bank  Act,  referring  in  calm 
and  determined  language  to  his  confidence  in  the  power  of  truth? 
and  his  readiness  to  wait  patiently  and  even  long  till  she  should 
be  vindicated.  A  single  paragraph  we  quote,  for  the  purpose 
of  illustrating  the  fact  that  even  at  that  early  period  he  was 
characterised  by  the  same  open  and  bold  avowal  of  his  senti 
ments,  even  though  unpopular,  that  so  greatly  distinguished 
him  in  after  life  : — "  The  gentleman  from  Shelby  [Mr.  Thomas], 
and  his  friends  with  him,  are  fully  welcome  to  the  entire  benefit 
of  anything  which  may  have  fallen  from  me.  I  have  never 
sought  concealment,  either  upon  this  question  or  upon  any 
other.  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  truth  ;  I  dare  speak  it  openly. 
It  may  be  unpopular,  it  may  be  in  advance  of  the  age ;  it  is 
none  the  less  truth,  and  I  am  not,  therefore,  the  more  afraid  to 
proclaim  it." 

He  continued  to  take  an  active  part  in  all  important  debates, 
carefully  observing  the  rules  which  he  had  laid  down  for  him 
self,  and  on  the  llth  of  February,  1846,  in  a  speech  which  was 
most  flatteringly  received,  defended  the  sanctity  of  cemeteries 
and  other  places  of  human  sepulture.  From  that  speech  we 
take  the  following  beautiful  extract : 

"  This  bill,  Sir,  merits  a  different  treatment  at  the  hands  of 
honorable  gentlemen.  The  feelings  in  .which  it  originates  are 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  43 

implanted  in  us  by  Nature  herself,  and  it  is  vain  for  us  to  un 
dertake  to  disregard  them.  They  have  been  recognised, 
honored  and  obeyed  in  all  ages,  because  they  spring  up  from 
the  human  heart  in  its  purest  state.  There  is  no  man,  how 
ever  humble  his  condition  or  whatever  his  religious  belief,  who 
does  not  attach  some  sanctity  to  the  dead,  and  desires  that  after 
his  life  shall  have  terminated  some  tribute  of  respect  be  paid 
to  his  remains.  This  is  an  aspiration,  an  impulse  so  natural, 
that  no  degradation,  be  it  ever  so  low,  can  obliterate  it  from 
our  hearts.  Even  the  most  friendless  and  forsaken,  dying 
alone,  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  without  a  friend  to  perform 
in  his  dying  moments  the  last  sad  offices  of  affection,  desires 
that  his  body  at  least  be  suffered  quietly  and  decently  to  rest 
in  its  grave.  And  this  is  a  feeling  which  has  dominion  much 
more  over  the  friends  and  relatives  of  the  dead,  where  the  dead 
have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  have  left  relatives  and  friends 
behind  them.  It  is  this  self-same  feeling  which  in  all  times 
lias  reared  the  splendid  mausoleum  of  the  king,  and  planted 
the  simple  rose-bush  over  the  humble  grave  of  the  peasant. 
There  is  no  nation,  however  barbarous,  but  has  some  funereal 
monuments;  and  the  rites  and  the  sanctity  of  sepulture  are 
among  all,  110  matter  what  their  religion,  held  in  the  highest 
regard.  The  Mussulmans  have  their  cemeteries,  spacious  and 
costly,  and  called  beautifully  and  expressively  in  their  language, 
'  Cities  of  Silence/  Even  the  simple  Indian  savages  of  our 
continent  have  their  memorials,  rude  indeed,  but  still  memo 
rials  of  the  burying-places  of  their  fathers.  All  this  springs 
from  our  innate  feeling  of  veneration  and  care  for  the  dead, 
for  those  who  have  passed  into  that  '  undiscovered  country 
from  whose  bourne  no  traveller  returns ? —  a  feeling  founded  in 
the  consciousness  we  all  possess  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
But  whether  the  soul  be  immortal,  or  suffer  annihilation  at 
death,  there  exists,  and  has  existed  in  all  times  and  among  all 
men,  an  instinctive  desire  that  the  body  be  cared  for  and 
guarded,  even  though  it  be  no  longer  any  more  than  cold,  un- 
animated  clay,  resolved  again  to  its  original  elements.  And 
even  the  place  of  one's  burial  has  in  every  age  been  a  matter 
of  anxious  solicitude  with  the  dying.  Who  that  is  familiar 
with  that  earliest  and  best  of  books,  coming  down  to  us  hallowed 
by  every  sanction  of  antiquity,  full  of  the  simple  narrative  of 
the  patriarchal  ages  and  fresh  with  the  spirit  of  a  newly- 
created  world,  but  remembers  that  the  first  purchase  of  land 


44  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT  X.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

upon  record  was  of  the  cave  of  Machpelah  for  a  burying-place, 
where  Abraham  was  buried,  and  Sarah  his  wife  ?  Who  has 
not  read  the  last  dying  aspiration  of  another  of  the  Hebrew 
patriarchs,  who,  calling  his  chosen  son  to  his  side,  prayed  him 
with  the  simple  pathos  of  expiring  old  age,  '  Deal  kindly  and 
truly  with  me ;  bury  me  not  in  Egypt,  I  pray  thee ;  but  I  will 
lie  with  my  fathers;  and  thou  shalt  carry  me  out  of  Egypt.' 
And  who  does  not  know  how  religiously  the  injunction  was 
obeyed ;  and  that  four  hundred  years  afterward  the  bones  of 
the  son,  also,  were  carried  up  from  the  land  where  first  buried, 
and  Deposited  in  the  sepulchre  of  the  patriarchs.  Sir,  it  is 
vain  to  war  against  these  feelings.  Nature  will  assert  her 
mastery.  They  are  too  deeply  implanted  and  too  universal  to 
be  despised  in  American  legislation.  Even  in  those  countries 
where  the  dead  were  burned,  the  ashes  were  preserved  and 
handed  down  in  costly  urns,  as  a  sacred  legacy  to  their  children. 
And  superstition  lent  its  aid  to  enforce  the  rites  of  burial,  and 
to  secure  the  sanctity  of  the  grave.  The  souls  of  those  whose 
bodies  remained  unburied  were  fabled  in  the  mythology  of  the 
ancients,  to  wander  a  hundred  weary  years  to  and  fro  upon  the 
banks  of  the  river  beyorid  which  lay  the  Elysian  fields,  before 
it  was  permitted  to  them  to  pass  over ;  and  the  prayer  of  the 
wandering  spirit  of  the  shipwrecked  philosopher  was  that  a 
lew  handfuls  of  dust  might  be  cast  — '  ter  pulvere  injecto ' — 
even  by  the  hand  of  a  stranger,  upon  his  uncovered  remains. 
The  last  degree  of  inhumanity,  punished  according  to  their 
notions  of  future  punishment  with  the  hottest  torments  of  the 
damned,  was  for  a  victorious  general  to  refuse  to  his  vanquished 
enemy  the  privilege  of  burying  their  dead.  The  very  religion 
of  the  ancients  forbade  the  dissection  of  human  corpses ;  and 
such  dissection  was  first  practised  not  many  centuries  ago. 
Sir,  these  are  feelings  which  must  be  respected,  no  matter,  I 
repeat,  whether  the  soul  be  mortal  or  immortal.  But  if  i mmortal 
—  and  who  so  besotted  as  to  doubt  it?  —  how  much  more 
ought  the  frail  tenement  in  which  it  has  been  inclosed,  and 
upon  which  it  may  be  that  it  now  looks  down  in  wistful  soli 
citude,  be  guarded  with  the  most  scrupulous  veneration.  \N"o 
matter,  either,  whether  death  be  an  eternal  sleep,  as  some  vainly 
and  blasphemously  hold,  or  no  more  than  a  temporary  slumber 
till 

" '  Wrapt  in  fire  the  realms  of  ether  glow, 

•     And  Heaven's  last  thunder  shakes  the  earth  below.' 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  45 

"  But  much  more,  even  for  the  sake  of  the  dead,  ought 
protection,  and  the  protection  of  law,  to  be  extended  to  their 
bodies,  if,  as  the  Scriptures  of  truth  teach,  there  is  to  come  a 
day  when  that  great  and  tremendous  Being  who  inhabits 
eternity  shall  judge  both  the  quick  and  the  dead — when  this 
corruption  shall  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  immor 
tality,  and  death  be  swallowed  up  in  victory.  He,  then,  who 
holds  to  the  faith  of  the  Christian  religion,  ought  the  more 
readily  and  sacredly  to  respect  the  sanctuary  of  the  tomb.  It 
is  hard  enough  surely,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  bear  the  lengthened 
and  wearisome  ills  of  life  without  being  denied  even  the  cold 
repose  of  an  undisturbed  grave.  There  is  anguish  enough  in 
passing  down  into  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death 
without  the  superadded  torment  of  the  anticipated  violation 
and  dissection  of  our  bodies.  Shall  the  weary  never  be  at 
rest  ?  I  appeal  to  honorable  gentlemen ;  I  demand  of  you 
ea$h  one,  what  would  be  your  own  feelings  under  such  an 
anticipation  ?  But  if  you  care  not  for  yourself,  what  emotions 
would  stir  your  bosom  under  the  knowledge  that  the  body  of 
the  cherished  wife  of  your  youth,  or  of  the  favorite  child  of 
your  old  age,  had  been  torn  from  the  grave  over  which  you 
had  just  bowed  in  sorrow  your  stricken  soul,  watering  it  with 
your  tears,  to  be  subjected  to  the  merciless  process  of  dissecting 
by  the  knife  of  the  faculty,  though  done  with  never  so  much 
science  ? 

"  I  am  aware,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  feelings  of  which  I 
have  just  spoken  do  not  touch  the  pocket.  I  know  that  they 
do  not  smack  of  money,  and  can  not  be  coined  into  gold. 
They  do  not  find  exercise  in  the  digging  of  a  canal,  nor  in  the 
constructing  of  a  railroad,  nor  in  the  establishing  of  a  bank. 
No ;  they  spring  up  and  hang  only  as  simple  flowers  over  the 
pure  fountains  of  the  human  heart.  I  know,  too,  the  tendency 
of  the  age  to  grossness  and  sensualism ;  to  laugh  at  the  mere 
emotions  of  our  nature,  and  to  centre  all  the  care  and  protec 
tion  of  private  association  and  public  government  upon  property. 
But  these,  Sir,  I  repeat  yet  again,  are  not  feelings  to  be  despised. 
You  protect  against  slander ;  yet  the  sense  of  reputation  is  no 
more  than  a  mere  emotion.  Sir,  the  protection  of  property  is 
not  the  sole  business  of  government ;  nor  is  the  protection  of 
life.  The  '  pursuit  of  happiness 9  also,  in  whatever  form,  is 
equally  an  object  of  governmental  care,  so  far  as  such  care  ought 
to  be  extended  to  any  object." 


46  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

On  ths  24th  of  the  same  month  he  made  an  elaborate 
speech  against  the  Tax  Bill,  in  which  he  thus  indignantly 
repels  the  charge  made  against  the  Democratic  party  of 
designing  to  repudiate  the  State  debt : — 

"  The  debt  is  upon  us,  and  it  must  be  paid,  paid  to  the 
uttermost  farthing.  The  spectre  must  be  exorcised,  this 
devil  must  be  cast  out.  There  is  no  alternative  between  pay 
ment  and  repudiation.  And  who  will  hesitate?  Democrats, 
the  Democrats  of  Ohio  the  advocates  of  repudiation !  Sir,  I 
hurl  back  the  slander  with  indignation.  We  are  a  debt-paying, 
a  contract-abiding  party.  We  will  not  stop  to  inquire  by  whom 
or  for  what  this  great  debt  was  accumulated.  It  is  enough  to 
know  that  it  is  upon  us.  Though  it  were  the  most  improvi 
dent  that  ever  hung  upon  a  nation,  yet  shall  it  be  paid  —  paid, 
I  repeat,  to  the  uttermost  farthing." 

In  the  same  speech  he  drew  the  character  of  the  "  True 
Statesman,"  as  he  conceived  it ;  and  as  it  was  the  ideal  of  that 
at  which  he  constantly  aimed  himself,  we  present  it  entire : — 

".  Politics  is  a  science  broader  in  its  extent,  as  fixed  yet 
more  liberal  in  its  principles,  more  profound  and  more  diversi 
fied  in  its  objects,  as  intricate  in  its  nature,  more  penetrating 
and  controlling  in  its  effects,  wider  far  in  its  influence  011  the 
happiness  of  mankind  —  which  is  the  great  end  of  life  —  and 
nobler  every  way  than  all  other  human  sciences  put  together. 
It  is  a  science  the  province  of  which  is  to  carry  out,  through 
the  agency  of  man,  the  designs  of  the  Deity  himself.  To 
comprehend  such  a  science  in  its  fullest  extent  is  the  labor  of 
a  life-time,  and  the  business  only  of  a  STATESMAN.  But  by 
this  lofty  title  I  do  not  mean,  in  its  present  degraded  accepta 
tion,  a  miserable  partisan,  without  talents,  without  character, 
full  of  the  accumulated  vices  and  deformities  which  make  up 
the  mere  vulgar  demagogue,  a  compound  of  all  vileness,  the 
embodiment  of  everything  despicable ;  whose  very  candor  is 
hypocrisy,  whose  reason  is  prejudice,  whose  party  is  his  god ; 
whose  atom-intellect  is  exhausted  in  low  intrigue,  and  his 
whole  research  in  long-buried  falsehoods,  to  be  refined  and 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  47 

tortured  and  galvanised  into  fresh-born  calumnies ;  or  worse,, 
prying  with  the  instinct  of  a  still  lower  and  baser  meanness 
into  the  sanctuary  of  private  life  and  bed-chamber  arrangement. 
I  mean  no  such  detestable  character;  nor  yet  one  who  has 
merely  filled  some  legislative  station  with  honor  to  himself  and 
benefit  to  his  immediate  constituents.  No :  I  mean  a  STATES 
MAN,  in  the  broadest,  highest,  most  comprehensive  sense  — '  a 
mind  to  comprehend  the  universe ' —  bold,  sublime,  original ; 
from  whose  all-powerful  grasp  nothing  can  escape,  to  whose 
piercing  gaze  nothirig  is  dark,  nothing  intricate,  all  clear  and 
plain  and  luminous  as  the  sun  in  the  firmament ;  for  whose 
mighty  compass  immensity  itself  is  scarce  too  great ;  a  mind 
inductive,  philosophical,  inventive,  able  to  originate  the 
mightiest  and  most  extensive  plans  of  national  policy,  not  for 
a  day,  but  for  ages ;  capable  of  the  loftiest  designs,  the  boldest 
conceptions,  the  noblest  thoughts ;  a  mind  that  can  take  in 
at  a  single  glance  the  whole  compass  of  State  affairs,  yet  at  the 
same  moment  examine  each,  separately  without  confusion, 
analysing,  comparing,  arranging,  and  harmonising  all  into  one 
concordant  whole ;  a  mind  sagacious,  unerring,  almost  divine ; 
a  mind  that  can  range  at  will  over  all  cognate  subjects,  can 
glance  with  the  rapidity  of  thought  through  the  dark  vista 
of  the  pasij  thousands  of  years,  and  in  a  moment  restraining 
its  flight,  pierce  with  eagle  gaze  into  the  hidden  recesses  of  the 
future,  '  casting  the  nativity  of  unborn  time/  providing  against 
the  storm  before  it  has  burst,  treasuring  up  the  accumulated 
wisdom  of  ages,  and  applying  it  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
present.  A  mind  thus  naturally  gifted  must  have  been  de 
veloped  by  years  of  laborious  reading,  observation,  and  study ; 
must  have  penetrated  deep  into  human  nature ;  must  be  filled 
with  the  whole  history  of  past  and  present  States,  adorned  with 
the  treasures  of  science  and  literature,  and  enriched  with 
all  the  multifarious  stores  of  legal  and  political  knowledge. 
Besides  this,  an  American  statesman  must  be  profoundly  versed 
in  the  history,  the  interests,  separate  and  relative,  of  the  States ; 
the  institutions,  political,  literary,  and  religious,  of  his  own 
country ;  and  must  have  studied  the  constitution,  laws,  nature, 
and  powers  of  our  peculiar  system  of  government  with  the 
deepest  and  most  untiring  research.  And  to  these  he  must 
add  all  those  qualities  which  in  public  and  private  life  can 
ennoble  or  adorn  the  human  character.  His,  too,  must  not 


• 


48  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

have  been  the  mere  casual  experience  of  a  few  months  or  years 
of  legislation ;  his  whole  life  must  have  been  devoted  to  it. 

"  Such,  Mr.  Speaker,  is  the  character  which  I  mean  when  I 
speak  of  a  Statesman.  But  I  do  not  affirm  that  it  has  ever, 
as  I  have  drawn  it,  been  exhibited  in  any  age  or  country ;  nor 
yet  that  it  is  wholly  attainable  by  any  mere  'man  that  .is  born 
of  woman/  Still  less  would  I  maintain  that  no  one  is  fit  for 
political  life  or  station  unless  he  be  just  such  a  statesman. 
Our  condition,  were  such  the  case,  .would  be  lamentable  indeed. 
But  the  greatest  abilities  are  demanded  only  for  the  highest 
stations  and  the  greatest  exigencies,  which,  comparatively,  are 
few." 

Mr.  Vallandigham's  first  vote,  given  a  few  hours  after  he 
was  sworn  in,  was  in  support  of  a  resolution  to  open  the 
sittings  of  the  House  with  prayer,  a  majority  of  his  party 
voting  against  it.  Soon  after,  in  reply  to  a  member  of  his  own 
side  who  complained  that  he  (Mr.  V.)  was  quite  too  courteous 
to  the  Whigs,  he  said,  paraphrasing  Burke,  "that  lie  hoped 
always  so  to  be  a  Democrat  as  not  to  forget  that  he  was  a 
gentleman."  About  the  same  time  a  Ayhig  correspondent  of 
a  newspaper,  writing  in  reference  to  a  violent  speech  by  a 
Democratic  member,  said,  "  He  was  suitably  replied  to  by  C. 
L.  Vallandigham,  a  young  gentleman  who  is  always  as  near 
right  as  party  trammels  will  permit  him  to  go,  and  sometimes 
a  little  more  so."  Thus  his  high  moral  character  and  urbane 
manners,  together  with  diligent  and  laborious  attention  to  his 
duties,  secured  to  Mm  the  respect  and  good-will  of  all ;  and 
entering  the  House  utterly  unknown,  and  the  youngest  member 
of  it,  his  reputation  was  in  three  months  established  throughout 
the  State. 

He  returned  home  in  March,  1846,  and  resumed  the  practice 
of  the  law  with  redoubled  diligence  ;  but  in  June  was  required 
to  canvass  the  county  throughout,  in  order  to  secure  a  renomi- 


LIFE   OF 'CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  49 

nation  to  the  Legislature.  At  the  preceding  session  Colum- 
biana  had  been  entitled  to  two  members;  this  year  to  but  one. 
Mr.  Vallandigham's  former  colleague  appeared  against  him, 
and  a  vehement  contest  followed  —  the  nomination  being  equiv 
alent  to  an  election,  and  made  by  ballot.  The  cause  of  the 
opposition  to  him  was  this :  Some  two  years  previously,  the 
Legislature  had  passed  a  so-called  "  Ketrenchment  Act,"  reduc 
ing  all  salaries  to  a  contemptibly  low  standard ;  Common  Pleas 
Judges  being  paid  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year,  and 
members  of  the  Legislature  two  dollars  a  day.  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  had  taken  some  money  with  him  to  the  State  capital ; 
had  lived  "  righteously  and  soberly,"  abstaining  totally  from 
liquors  and  other  similar  indulgences,  and  yet  had  been  obliged 
to  borrow  money  to  enable  him  tc  return  home.  He  voted  and 
spoke  earnestly  for  the  repeal  of  the  "Retrenchment  Act." 
Fully  aware  that  his  course  would  be  unpopular  with  many  of 
his  constituents,  he  said : — "  Entertaining  these  opinions,  and 
believing  that  I  am  about  to  do  right,  I  enter  fearlessly  upon 
the  discharge  of  my  duty,  satisfied  to  abide  the  judgment  of  a 
constituency  I  am  proud  to  represent.  If  that  judgment  be 
against  me,  I  shall  be  content ;  having  still  within  my  bosom 
the  consoling  consciousness  that  I  dared  to  do  what  appeared 
to  me  just."  After  an  animated  contest  of  several  weeks,  he 
was  renominated  by  a  vote  of  two  to  one ;  and  at  the  following 
October  election,  in  spite  of  a  very  vigorous  opposition  by  the 
Whig  party,  Was  re-elected  by  a  large  majority. 

But  although  at  this  period  of  his  life  Mr.  "Vallandigham 

was  full  of  business,  diligently  prosecuting  the  practice  of 

law  and  taking  a  very  active  part  in  politics,  he  found  time  to 

devote  to  social  and  domestic  matters.    On  the  27th  of  August, 

4 


50  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

1846,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Louisa  A.  McMahon,  a  sister  of 
the  late  Hon.  John  V.  L.  McMahon,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
and  daughter  of  Mr.  William  McMahon,  one  of  the  purest  and 
best  of  men,  who  lived  and  died  a  pious  and  honored  citizen  of 
Cumberland  in  the  same  State. 

The  Legislature  met  on  the  7th  of  December,  1846,  and 
Mr.  Vallandigham  was  complimented  by  the  unanimous  vote 
of  his  party  for  Speaker.  The  session  was  marked  by  the  dis 
cussion  of  three  most  important  subjects,  Mr.  Vallandigham 
taking  a  leading  part  as  to  all. 

To  the  prosecution  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  then  vehemently 
opposed  by  the  Whig  party,  he  gave  an  earnest  support.  On 
the  15th  of  December  he  offered  a  series  of  resolutions,  of 
which  the  following  are  two : — "  That  the  war  thus  brought 
about  and  commenced  by  the  aggressions  and  act  of  Mexico 
herself,  having  been  recognised  by  Congress  according  to  the 
forms  of  the  Constitution,  is  a  Constitutional  war,  and  a  war  of 
the  whole  people  of  the  United  States,  begun  (on  our  part) 
and  carried  on  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  Union.  That  this  General  Assembly  has  full  confidence 
in  the  wisdom  and  the  ability  of  the  Executive  of  the  United 
States  to  prosecute  the  war  to  a  successful  and  speedy  termina 
tion  by  an  honorable  peace ;  and  that  we  hereby  tender  the 
cordial  sympathies  and  support  of  this  Commonwealth  to  the 
said  Executive,  in  the  further  prosecution  of  the  war."  In 
these  resolutions  it  will  be  seen  that  he  took  care  to  establish 
the  grounds  of  his  support,'  declaring  it  "  a  war  brought  about 
and  commenced  by  the  aggressions  and  acts  of  Mexico  " ;  "  a 
Constitutional  war "  ;  "  a  war  carried  on  in  pursuance  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws" ;  and  a  war,  the  object  of  which  was 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  51 

not  conquest  and  subjugation,  but  "  a  speedy,  honorable  peace." 
These  resolutions  he  supported  in  a  strong  speech ;  and  being 
assailed  personally  in  reply  by  a  Whig  member,  he  retorted 
sharply  in  a  second  speech  of  considerable  length,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  answered  the  objection  that  the  Legislature  was 
intermeddling  in  that  which  did  not  concern  it ;  saying  that, 
"  as  a  friend  to  our  peculiar  system  in  its  true  spirit,  and  as  a 
State-Rights  man,  he  would  be  sorry  to  see  the  day  when  the 
individual  States  should  cease  to  feel  the  deepest  solicitude  in 
the  acts  of  the  Government  of  the  Union." 

The  following  is  a  brief  extract  from  the  speech : — 

"  But  the  gentleman  from  Harrison  further  charges  me  with 
ambition. 

"'The  noble  Brutus 
Hath  told  you  Caesar  was  ambitious; 
If  it  were  so,  it  was  a  grievous  fault, 
And  grievously  hath  Ccesar  answered  it' 

Sir,  I  freely  confess  that  I  am  not  of  so  stoical  a  mould  of 
mind  as  to  be  indifferent  altogether  to  the  honors  and  glories 
of  the  world.  But  mine,  I  trust,  is  that  honorable  ambition 
which  seeks  the  attainment  of  '  noble  ends  by  noble  means/ 
If  I  am  not  without  ambition,  I  yet  hope  that  I  shall  be  found 
'  without,  the  illness  which  should  attend  it.'  Oi^such  ambi 
tion  I  am  not  ashamed.  But  the  gentleman  misapprehends 
me.  I  did  not  speak  of  the  '  high  places '  of  the  State  and  the 
Union  as  the  motives  which  control  my  speeches  and  move 
ments  in  this  House,  or  as  iftting  motives  to  govern  any  one. 
Far  from  it.  I  have  never  made  office,  or  even  honor,  the  aim 
or  end  of  my  ambition.  They  are  desirable  only  so  far  as  they 
enable  the  true  patriot  the  more  efficiently  to  do  good  for  his 
country  and  for  mankind,  and  not  for  their  own  sake.  In  this 
spirit  and  conviction  I  begin  public  life,  and  in  it  I  trust  to 
continue  steadfast  to  the  end." 

At  the  same  session  the  "  Missouri  Question  "  was  revived 
in  the  form  of  the  "  Wilmot  Proviso,"  or  proposed  exclusion 


52  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

of  Slavery  from  the  Territories.  In  fourteen  years  the 
agitation  terminated  in  CIVIL,  WAK.  On  the  16th  of  January, 
resolutions  in  favor  of  the  "  Proviso "  were  introduced  by  a 
Whig  member  from  the  Western  Reserve.  Mr.  Vallandigham 
promptly  moved  to  lay  them  upon  the  table,  which  was  done. 
A  few  days  later,  being  called  up  for  discussion,  he  opposed 
them  in  an  impassioned  speech  (briefly  and  imperfectly  reported), 
declaring  that  the  agitation  could  result  only  in  civil  war  and 
disunion,  and  that  he  had  spoken  with  great  earnestness  and 
feeling  "  because  he  felt  called  upon,  as  a  patriot  and  citizen, 
to  resist  and  expose  every  measure  which  might  work  in 
calculable  mischief,  not  only  to  ourselves,  but  to  generations  yet 
unborn."  He  further  declared  that  whenever  any  question 
might  arise  involving  the  Union  in  the  alternative,  he  would 
go  with  his  might  on  that  side  —  on  the  side  of  the  Union, 
now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable.  During  the  session  two 
several  petitions  were  presented  by  Whig  members,  praying 
the  Legislature  because  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  "de 
clare  the  Union  dissolved,  and  withdraw  the  Ohio  Senators 
and  Representatives  from  Congress."  Mr.  Vallandigham 
voted  for  the  motion  in  each  case  to  reject  the  petition. 

But  his  ablest  speech  at  this  session  was  made  in  support 
of  his  bill  to  provide  for  calling  a  convention  to  amend  the 
State  Constitution.  The  bill  received  a  majority  but  not  a 
two-thirds  vote  as  required,  and  therefore  failed  :  but  the 
speech  attracted  much  attention  throughout  the  State,  and 
ultimately  led  to  the  passage  of  the  bill  at  a  subsequent 
session.  To  give  a  clear  and  satisfactory  view  of  this  speech 
would  require  copious  extracts,  and  for  these  we  have  not 
space. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  53 

Taking  an  active  part  upon  all  important  questions,  Mr. 
Vallandigham  again  found  it  necessary  to  separate  now  and 
then  from  his  party  friends.  Upon  one  of  these  occasions  — 
on  a  bill  to  promote  the  cause  of  popular  education,  in  which 
he  took  a  deep  interest  —  he  said  "he  was  sorry  to  part 
company  with  them  on  any  question,  but  was  not  afraid  to 
vote  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience.  He  had 
stood  upon  the  floor  before,  and  was  ever  proud  to  stand,  even 
in  a  minority,  when  he  could  feel,  as  he  now  did,  that  he 
stood  on  the  vantage-ground  of  truth." 

Upon  the  question  of  the  so-called  "  Black  Laws,"  relating 
to  the  disabilities  of  negroes  and  mulattoes,  he  voted  against 
their  repeal,  but  supported  a  bill  to  submit  the  question  to  a 
vote  of  the  people,  expressly  declaring  that  he  so  voted  because 
the  measure  "  would  result  in  the  most  effectual  putting  down 
of  this  vexed  question  for  perhaps  twenty  years  to  come.  It 
would  probably  fall  out  as  the  question  of  negro  suffrage  in 
New  York,  where  the  people  had  voted  against  it  ,by  a 
majority  of  fifty  thousand." 

Throughout  this  his  second  session  Mr.  Vallandigham 
maintained  and  added  to  the  reputation  which  he  had  acquired 
at  the  first.  A  gentleman,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  politician, 
writing  to  a  Cincinnati  neutral  paper,  said  of  him  in  March, 
1847:  "Although  the  youngest  member  of  the  Legislature,  he 
came  to  be  regarded  long  before  the  close  of  his  first  session  as 
the  leader  of  his  party  on  the  floor,  which  position  he  main 
tained  during  the  late  short  and  active  session Courtesy 

and  urbanity  in  public  as  well  as  in  private  life  have  secured 
for  him  the  esteem  of  all  who  know  him  without  regard  to 
party,  while  his  abilities  have  commanded  their  respect.  In 


54  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

all  his  intercourse  with  men  there  is  evinced  a  frankness  and 
an  obliging  generous  feeling  which,  above  all  other  traits  of 
character,  create  and  retain  warm  personal  friends." 

At  the  close  of  the  session  he  returned  home  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  law.  His  legislative  course,  so  highly  credit 
able  to  himself,  was  universally  approved  by  his  constituents, 
and  they  were  anxious  to  nominate  him  again;  but  he  declined, 
and  in  a  few  months  removed  to  another  part  of  the  State. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

REMOVAL  TO  DAYTON,  AND  EDITORSHIP  OF  THE  "  EMPIRE." 

IN  August,  1847,  Mr.  Vallandigham  removed  to  Dayton, 
Montgomery  County,  Ohio.    Some  months  before,  he  had  visited 
the  place,  was  much  pleased  .with  the  people,  admired   the 
beauty  of  the  city,  and  the  energy  and  enterprise  everywhere 
exhibited,  and  determined  to  make  it  his  future  residence.     To 
New  Lisbon  he  was  warmly  attached :  it  was  the  place  of  his 
nativity ;  and  its  healthfulness,  the  beauty  of  the  surrounding 
scenery,  the  interesting  associations   connected  with  it  of  his 
youth  and  early  manhood  —  all  these  endeared  it  to  him.     But' 
it  was  then  a  place  of  little  enterprise,  of  little  business,  and 
he  desired  a  wider  field.     On  his  removal  to  Dayton  he  at 
once  entered  into  partnership  in  the  practice  of  law  with 
Thomas  J.  S.  Smith,  Esq.,  an  able  and  experienced  lawyer, 
and  highly  esteemed  citizen.     He  also  became  connected  with 
the  Western  Empire,  the  Democratic  paper  of  the  city,  as  part 
owner  and  editor.     For  this  he  had  made  arrangements  before 
his  removal,  anticipating  that  it  might  be  some  time  before  his 
income  from  the  practice  of  law  would  be  sufficient  for  the 
comfortable  support  of  his  family.     This,  however,  was  not 
his  only  motive  for  connecting  himself  with  the  press.     "When 
a  boy  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  art  of  printing,  and  in  one 
of  the  offices  in  his  native  town  he  was  accustomed  to  spend 


56  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

much  time  in  setting  type  and  making  himself  acquainted  with 
the  mysteries  of  the  art.  He  also  had  a  high  appreciation  of 
the  power  of  the  press,  and  loved  to  wield  it ;  and  when  two 
years  afterwards  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  paper,  and 
surrendered  the  control  of  it  into  other  hands,  it  was  because 
his  increasing  law  business  demanded  the  whole  of  his  time 
and  attention. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  his  "  Salutatory  Address  " 
on  assuming  editorial  charge  of  the  Empire  September  2, 
1847  :— 

"We  will  contend  calmly  and  resolutely  for  all  salutary 
reforms;  yet  not  as  seeking  to  change  existing  institutions 
solely  because  they  are  old,  nor  clamoring  for  any  innov-atiori 
simply  because  it  is  new.  i  To  innovate  is  not  to  reform/  Yet 
no  abuse  shall  escape  us  because  -covered  by  the  prescription  of 
ages,  or  protected  by  the  canonising  authority  of  great  names. 

"  A  radical  Democrat  as  well  from  sober  conviction  as  from 
impulse,  we  will  maintain  with  calm  but  determined  firmness 
the  doctrines  of  radical  progressive  Democracy.  Ours,  how 
ever,  is  not  the  sans  culotte  democracy  of  the  faubourg,  calling  for 
two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  heads ;  but  our  own  pecu 
liar,  rational,  constitutional,  American  Democracy  —  that 
Democracy  which  is  built  upon  law  and  order,  and  governed 
through  reason  and  by  justice  —  a  Democracy  the  aim  of  which 
is  to  approximate  our  forms  and  administration  of  government 
as  nearly  to  the  standard  of  unmixed  democracies  as  our  cir 
cumstances  and  the  well-being  of  society  will  admit ;  to  leave 
as  much  power  with  the  people  in  their  unorganised  capacity  as 
is  compatible  with  the  necessities  and  efficient  existence  of 
government, -delegating  no  more  to  their  agents  than  is  requisite 
for  its  just  and  legitimate  purposes.  We  will  contend  to  the 
utmost  for  the  largest  wholesome  individual  freedom  of  action 
in  all  things,  and  oppose  with  our  whole  heart  that  pernicious 
and  anti-democratic  intermeddling  of  Government  with  those 
private  affairs  and  relations  between  man  and  man  which  of 
right  and  upon  policy  ought  to  be  left  to  the  individual  citizen 
himself. 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  57 

"  We  will  maintain  the  right  of  the  majority  to  govern  ;  not 
as  a  natural  right,  inherent  in  majorities,  but  as  a  political 
right,  subject  therefore  as  well  to  the  restrictions  imposed  upon 
it  by  our  constitutions  and  laws  (except  in  cases  justifying  a 
resort  to  the  ultima  ratio  populi,  REVOLUTION)  as  to  the  natu 
ral  and  imprescriptible  rights  of  the  men  composing  minorities 
as  individuals.  We  will  war  against  despotism  in  all  its  forms ; 
and  to  us  the  despotism  of  the  many  is  no  more  tolerable  than 
the  despotism  of  the  few.  We  will  maintain  the  will  of  the 
people  to  be  the  supreme  law,  subject  to  the  eternal  principles  of 
right  and  justice,  which  it  belongs  not  to  the  people  to  give  or 
take  away ;  but  we  will  seek  for  that  will  primarily  in  the  Con 
stitution  and  laws.  The  will  of  the  people  as  exhibited 
through  the  press,  through  public  assemblies,  petitions,  and 
above  all  the  ballot-box,  is  in  itself  neither  Constitution  nor 
law;  nor  has  it  the  force  thereof,  though  entitled  to  great 
respect.  But  it  is  the  highest  evidence  of  what  constitutions 
and  laws  the  people  desire  to  have  ordained  and  enacted ;  and 
to  the  framers  of  constitutions,  and  to  legislators  as  such,  we 
hold  it  to  be,  when  fully  and  authentically  ascertained,  the 
supreme  law,  as  above  limited. 

"We  will  support  the  CONSTITUTION  or  THE  UNITED 
STATES  in  its  whole  integrity,  as  it  came  to  us  from  'the 
fathers/  believing  it  to  establish  in  principle  the  very  best  form 
of  government  which  the  wisdom  of  man  ever  devised. 

"  We  will  protect  and  defend,  according  to  our  opportunities 
and  abilities,  the  UNION  OF  THESE  STATES,  as  in  very  deed 
the  '  palladium  of  our  political  prosperity/  '  the  only  rock  of 
our  safety/  less  sacred  only  than  Liberty  herself;  and  we  will 
pander  to  the  sectional  prejudices,  or  the  fanaticism,  or  wounded 
pride,  or  disappointed  ambition  of  no  man,  or  set  of  men, 
whereby  that  Union  shall  be  put  in  jeopardy. 

"  We  will  maintain  the  doctrine  of  strict  construction,  as  ap 
plied  to  all  grants  of  power,  in  trust,  to  the  agents  and  servants 
of  the  people,  and  especially  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States ;  and  we  will  stand  fast  to  the  doctrine,  also,  of  '  STATE 
RIGHTS  '  as  embodied  in  Mr.  Madison's  Virginia  Report,  and 
Mr.  Jefferson's  Kentucky  Resolutions  of  '98. 

"  Free  trade,  the  constitutional  treasury,  equitable  taxation 
assessed  upon  sound  financial  principles ;  the  collection  of  no 
more  revenue  in  the  treasury  of  the  general  and  State  govern- 


58  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

ment  than  will  suffice  under  a  wholesome  administration  of  the 
finances ;  the  faithful  and  speedy  discharge  of  the  State  debt, 
never  to  be  incurred  again  in  time  of  peace ;  a  revision  of  our 
State  Constitution  without  further  delay;  wholesome  and 
rational  economy  in  all  the  departments  and  all  the  transac 
tions  of  government  far  removed  from  the  '  economy  of  mean 
ness/  confidence  in  the  people,  jealousy  of  their  agents;  one 
term  to  the  Presidency ;  a  fixed  tenure  to  every  office  under  the 
Federal  Government  which  will  properly  admit  of  it;  war 
before  dishonor,  but  honorable  peace  always  to  be  preferred  to 
war  —  these  and  other  kindred  principles  and  measures  will 
receive  our  hearty  support. 

"  The  cause  of  popular  education  shall  receive  in  like  man 
ner  our  cordial  sympathy  and  aid,  as  of  the  last  necessity  to 
the  prosperity  and  permanence  of  our  institutions. 

"  To  the  present  administration  we  will  lend  that  support 
(whatever  it  is  worth)  which  an  honest,  independent  man  may 
and  ought  to  extend  to  the  administration  of  the  party  to 
which  he  belongs. 

"  On  these,  as  on  all  subjects,  our  opinions  shall  be  our  own, 
and  they  shall  be  candidly,  boldly,  but  courteously  expressed. 
In  our  editorial  intercourse  with  the  public  we  shall  seek  no 
personal  controversy,  nor  shall  any  one  draw  us  into  any  con 
troversy  unbecoming  a  gentleman.  Towards  all  adversaries 
between  whom  and  us  there  shall  arise  any  matter  of  difference, 
we  will  exhibit  proper  respect  —  sometimes  for  their  sakes, 
always  for  our  own." 

This  Salutatory  Address  exhibits  his  political  creed  more 
fully  than  any  other  of  his  writings,  and  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  we  make  these  copious  extracts.  The  high  appreciation 
of  the  value  of  the  Union  which  he  here  expresses  he  ever  re 
tained,  though  during  the  war  an  earnest  effort  was  made  by 
his  enemies  to  create  the  impression  that  he  was  in  favor  of  its 
dissolution. 

Mr.  Vallandighara  proved  himself  an  able  and  successful 
editor.  His  selections  displayed  good  taste  and  sound  judg 
ment,  and  his  editorials  were  written  with  force  and  ability. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  59 

The  following,  from  the  Empire  of  December  2,  1847,  is 
an  extract  from  an  editorial  review  of  a  sermon  against  the 
Mexican  War,  by  a  Methodist  preacher : — 

"  The  Saviour  whose  Gospel  he  professes  gave  no  such  ex 
ample,  taught  no  such  doctrine.  When  the  Pharisees,  '  tempt 
ing  him/  asked  whether  it  were  lawful  to  pay  tribute  to  Caesar, 
a  question  which  then  divided  the  Jewish  nation,  instead  of 
pandering  to  their  partisan  feelings  and  prejudices  by  arraying 
himself  upon  the  one  side  or  the  other,  he  commanded  them  to 
'  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  were  Caesar's,  and  to  God 
the  things  which  were  God's.7  It  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of 
the  Christian  minister,  under  the  cloak  of  religion,  and  in  the 
Pharisaical  cant  of  being  otherwise  recreant  to  duty,  to  pro 
nounce  his  judgment  in  the  pulpit  upon  the  great  political 
questions  which  distract  the  generation  in  which  he  lives. 
There  is  an  end  of  all  purity  and  usefulness  in  the  ministry, 
and  with  it  of  the  usefulness  and  purity  of  religion  also,  if 
such  a  course  be  tolerated.  If  the  clergy  and  the  church  are  to 
be  arrayed  against  the  Democratic  party  on  the  question  of  this 
war,  let  us  know  it,  that  we  may  set  our  battle  in  array  accord 
ingly In  attacking  thus  boldly  the  abuses  of  re 
ligion  by  those  who  essay  to  preach  it,  we  make  no  attack  on 
religion  itself.  We  desire  to  separate  carefully  and  widely 
between  the  two.  We  were  taught  from  earliest  infancy,  and 
have  sought  to  practise  the  lesson  ever  since,'  to  reverence  the 
religion  of  the  Bible,  and  to  respect  those  at  least  of  its  min 
isters  who  walk  worthy  of  their  vocation." 

The  introduction  of  politics  into  the  pulpit,  the  inter 
meddling  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  with  the  exciting  political 
questions  of  the  day,  Mr.  Vallandigham  bitterly  opposed  and 
unsparingly  denounced  all  his  life.  He  regarded  it  as  injuri 
ous  alike  to  Church  and  State ;  as  especially  damaging  to  the 
cause  of  true  and  undefiled  religion. 

Another  of  his  leading  articles  while  editor  of  the  Empire 
was  one  affirming  the  right  of  revolution,  but  opposing  what 
was  then  called  "  DOKRISM,"  or  the  asserted  right  of  a  mere 


60  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.' 

numerical  majority  at  any  time  to  set  aside  existing  rules  and 
forms  as  prescribed  by  constitutions ;  and  by  spontaneous  move 
ment,  without  form  or  color  of  law,  to  set  up  a  new  constitution 
and  government :  and  another  against  the  repeal,  then  agitated 
by  the  Abolitionists,  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1793. 

In  June,  1849,  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  Empire.  The 
following  are  the  closing  sentences  of  his  valedictory  in  resign 
ing  his  position  as  editor.  Referring  to  principles  formerly 
annunciated,  he  says : — "  "We  would  stand  or  fall  by  them  now 
as  then,  and  throughout  life.  Of  the  vital  importance  to  the 
welfare  of  the  whole  country  in  general,  and  the  Democratic 
party  in  particular,  of  two,  in  an  especial  manner,  of  these 
principles,  every  hour  has  added  to  our  deep  conviction.  And 
we  would  write  them  as  in  the  rock  upon  the  hearts  of  our 
friends  forever:  First,  that  which  is  really  and  most  valuable 
in  our  American  liberties  depends  upon  the  preservation  and 
vigor  of  THE  UNION  OF  THESE  STATES  ;.  and  therefore  all 
and  every  agitation  in  one  section,  necessarily  generating 
counter-agitation  in  the  other,  ought,  from  what  quarter  soever 
it  may  come,  by  every  patriot  and  well-wisher  of  his  country, 
to  be  c  indignantly  frowned  upon '  and  arrested  ere  it  be  too 
late." 

The  summer  and  autumn  of  1849  he  spent  in  travel,  and 
the  winter  in  general  reading  and  study.  During  the  winter 
he  was  proposed  and  voted  for,  by  his  party  in  the  Legislature, 
for  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court  of  the  Montgomery 
circuit,  but  defeated  by  "the  balance  of  power  party"  because 
of  his  views  upon  the  question  of  Slavery.  In  the  spring  of 
1850  he  resumed  the  regular  and  diligent  practice  of  the  law 
with  reputation  and  success, 


CHAPTER   VII. 

EVENTS    FROM     1850    TO     1855. 

THE  changes  wrought  by  time  in  our  history  since  the 
year  1850  are  so  many  and  so  radical,  tjiat  it  is  difficult  for 
men  even  of  this  generation,  who  were  living  at  that  time,  to 
clearly  recall  to  their  memories  the  condition  of -affairs  then, 
and  the  public  sentiment  which  existed  at  that  period.  In 
those  days  the  term  Abolitionist  was  one  of  reproach;  and 
although  a  strong  anti-slavery  sentiment  existed  all  over  the 
North,  it  was  guided  and  controlled  by  a  respect  for  the  Con 
stitution,  kind  feeling  for  the  people  of  the  South,  and  earnest 
love  for  the  Union  as  made  by  our  fathers.  "  There  were 
giants,  too,  in  those  days  "  •  great  men,  honest  men,  who  had 
no  object  in  view  in  their  political  career  but  the  honor  and 
glory  of  their  country,  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  Federal 
Union,  just  as  it  was  made  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution. 

Every  intelligent  reader  is  so  familiar  with  the  history  of 
the  Compromise  of  that  year,  that  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
give  more  than  a  hasty  review  of  the  circumstances  attending 
the  passage  of  that  important  measure.  The  feelings  of  the 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  North  upon  the  subject  of  slavery 
at  that  time  are  better  and  more  concisely  expressed  by  an 
extract  from  a  speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Holmes,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  many  years  before,  than  by  any  language  we  could 


62  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

use.  It  is  as  follows : — "  We  are  not  the  advocates  or  the 
abettors  of  slavery.  For  one,  Sir,  I  would  rejoice  if  there  was 
not  a  slave  on  earth.  Liberty  is  the  object  of  my  love,  my 
adoration;  I  would  extend  its  blessings  to  every  human  being. 
But  though  my  feelings  are  strong  for  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
they  are  yet  stronger  for  the  Constitution  of  my  country."  Yet 
a  great  and  growing  party  was  arising  in  the  United  States  — 
that  which  under  the  name  of  Republican  triumphed  in  the 
election  of  1860 — governed  more  as  to  policy  by  hatred  of 
slavery  and  hostility  to  slaveholders  than  by  love  for  the 
Union  or  regard  for  the  Constitution.  This  party,  not  as  yet 
distinctly  recognised  as  a  political  organisation,  had  complete 
control  of  some  of  the  Northern  States,  and  held  the  balance 
of  power  in  others.  When  the  Compromise  measures  were 
finally  passed  through  the  patriotic  efforts  of  Clay,  Calhoun, 
and  Webster,  the  anti-slavery  men  bitterly  opposed  them.  The 
principal  objection  was  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  incorporated  in 
those  measures.  At  the  present  time,  when  slavery  is  forever 
abolished,  and  when  the  Abolitionists  of  the  country  have 
triumphed,  it  would  seem  at  first  blush  that  the  objections 
urged  against  that  law  were  reasonable;  but  a  calm  and 
impartial  examination  of  the  question  in  the  then  condition  of 
the  country,  and  with  the  Constitution  as  it  then  stood,  will 
satisfy  the  searcher  after  truth  that  the  law  was  constitutional, 
and  nothing  more  than  the  South  was  in  justice  entitled  to. 

But  the  truth  is  that  neither  at  that  time,  nor  at  any  time 
since,  could  human  wisdom  have  devised  a  fugitive  slave 
law  which  would  not  have  been  either  violently  opposed  or 
altogether  disregarded  in  the  Northern  States.  During  the 
summer  of  1849,  the  people  of  California,  without  any 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  63 

authority  of  Congress,  acting  under  a  proclamation  of  General 
Riley,  then  in  command  of  that  military  district,  framed  a 
constitution  excluding  slavery.  When  Congress  met  in  Decem 
ber,  1849,  application  was  made  for  its  admission  as  a  State 
under  the  constitution  thus  framed.  A  majority  of  the  Repre 
sentatives  from  the  South  were  opposed  to  its  admission  under 
this  constitution,  which  they  claimed  was  irregularly  formed 
and  without  authority  of  law.  Many  other  irritating  subjects 
involving  the  Slavery  question,  also  agitated  the  minds  of  the 
people.  A  long  contest  for  Speaker  occurred,  in  which  a  con 
siderable  amount  of  sectional  feeling  was  developed.  After 
the  election  of  the  Hon.  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  Speaker, 
the  discussions  in  both  the  House  and  the  Senate  became  very 
bitter  and  exciting.  The  gravest  apprehensions  very  soon 
arose,  that  on  account  of  the  exasperated  feelings  aroused  both 
North  and  South,  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  would  occur ; 
and  if  the  anti-slavery  feeling  had  been  but  a  little  stronger, 
and  the  North  had  possessed  the  numerical  majority  that  she 
had  in  1860,  it  would  have  undoubtedly  taken  place  at  that 
time,  or  the  country  precipitated  into  a  civil  war,  notwithstand 
ing  the  efforts  of  Clay,  Webster,  and  others  to  bring  about 
reconciliation.  Mr.  Clay's  Compromise  proposed  to  admit 
California  under  the  constitution  formed  in  the  manner  above 
described ;  to  organize  Territorial  Governments  for  Utah  and 
New  Mexico,  without  any  restriction  of  slavery ;  to  settle  the 
question  of  boundary  between  New  Mexico  and  Texas  by 
negotiation  with  that  State;  to  pass  an  efficient  Act  for  the 
rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  to  abolish  slave-trade  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  These  measures  were  introduced  in  the 
early  part  of  1850,  at  the  first  session  of  the  Thirty-first 


64  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Congress.  After  a  long  and  severe  struggle,  the  plan  of  Com 
promise  proposed  by  Mr.  Clay  was  substantially  adopted,  and 
the  better  class  of  people  North  and  South  were  sanguine  that 
a  permanent  peace  between  the  sections  was  established.  But 
in  the  North  the  Abolition  agitators  were  determined  that 
there  should  be  no  settlement  of  the  Slavery  question  other 
than  the  complete  destruction  of  the  institution.  Meetings 
were  held  all  over  the  North  to  denounce  the  Compromise 
measures.  A  meeting  of  this  kind  was  held  at  the  City  Hall 
in  Dayton,  on  the  19th  of  October,  1850.  The  following  is 
one  of  the  resolutions  reported  to  this  meeting : — "  Resolved, 
That  the  Congress  which  could  be  so  far  frightened  from  its 
propriety,  by  the  insolent  bluster  and  bravado  of  a  few  slave 
holders,  as  to  pass  an  Act  (the  Fugitive  Slave  Act)  so  fraught 
with  injustice,  and  so  odious,  deserves  the  rebuke  of  the  people 
of  these  United  States."  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  present  at 
this  meeting,  and  spoke  earnestly  in  opposition  to  this  resolution, 
and  in  favor  of  the  Compromise  policy  which  gave  birth  to 
the  law.  The  Dayton  Journal,  a  Whig  paper,  in  an  editorial, 
spoke  in  these  terms  of  his  speech  on  that  occasion : — "  His 
speech  was  ingenious  and  eloquent.  His  objection  to  the 
course  proposed  by  the  resolutions  was,  that  it  would  lead  to 
further  agitation  and  tend  to  endanger  the  Union."  This 
resolution  was,  however,  adopted  by  the  meeting;  and  another 
meeting  was  soon  after  called  by  the  friends  of  the  Compromise 
measures,  which  was  held  on  the  26th  day  of  October.  A  full 
account  of  this  meeting,  including  Judge  ,  Crane's  letter,  we 
publish  below.  The  letter  of  Judge  Crane  is  a  complete 
answer,  very  concisely  made,  to  the  objections  urged  against 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  There  were  no  party  distinctions  at 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  65 

this  meeting;  the  President  was  a  prominent  and  influential 
Whig,  three  of  the  Vice-Presidents  were  Democrats  and  three 
were  Whigs,  and  one  Secretary  was  a  Whig  and  the  other  a 
Democrat : — 

"PUBLIC   MEETING   IN  DAYTON. 

"  Pursuant  to  a  public  call  signed  by  over  one  hundred  of  the 
citizens  of  Montgomery  County,  a  very  large  meeting  assembled 
at  the  City  Hall,  in  Dayton,  on  Saturday  evening,  October  26, 
1850.  On  motion  of  K.  Green,  Alex.  Grimes,  Esq.,  was  called 
to  the  Chair.  The  meeting  being  called  to  order,  on  motion  of 
C.  L.  Vallandigham,  Esq.,  Dr.  John  Steele,  Dr.  J.  A.  Walters, 
Richard  Green,  David  Cathcart,  James  McDaniel,  and  David 
Clark  were  elected  Vice-Presidents,  and  Jos.  G.  Crane  and 
David  A.  Houk,  Secretaries.  Mr.  Vallandigham  then  read 
the  correspondence  between  a  committee  of  gentlemen  and  Hon. 
Jos.  H.  Crane,  which  was  as  follows  : — 

" '  DAYTON,  Ohio,  October  23, 1850. 
"  *  To  the  Hon.  JOSEPH  H.  CRANE  :— 

"  <$iV:— The  undersigned  citizens  of  Montgomery  County, 
concurring  in  the  call  just  issued  for  a  meeting  of  all  those  who 
are  in  favor  of  sustaining  the  recent  efforts  of  the  Executive 
and  Congress  of  the  United  States,  to  compromise  and  adjust 
the  vexed  questions  which  for  so  long  have  agitated  the  country 
and  endangered  the  stability  of  the  Union  and  the  peace  and 
harmony  of  its  different  sections,  and  who  desire  that  quiet, 
good  feeling  of  fraternal  affection,  as  in  the  earlier  years  of  the 
Republic,  shall  once  more  and  henceforward  prevail  between 
us  and  our  brethren  of  the  South,  respectfully  unite  in  the 
earnest  request  that,  despite  the  many  years  which  have  crowned 
you  with  so  honorable  an  old  age,  you  will  consent  to  preside 
at  the  meeting  to  be  convened  on  the  ensuing  Saturday  even 
ing  in  the  City  Hall,  for  the  purposes  above  expressed. 
"  *  Very  respectfully,  &c., 

"  *  C.  L.  YALLANDIGHAM, 
LUTHER  GIDDINGS, 
D.  G.  FITCH, 
RICHARD  GREEN, 
T.  J.  S.  SMITH, 
GILBERT  KENNEDY. 
" '  To  Hon.  JOSEPH  H.  CRANE,  Day  toil.' 


66  LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

"JUDGE  CKANE'S  REPLY.    . 

" '  DAYTON,  October  25, 1850. 

" '  Gentlemen : —  Your  letter  of  the  23d  inst.  was  handed 
to  me  yesterday.  I  should  readily  comply  with  your  request, 
if  sanctioned  by  the  meeting,  if  I  were  able  to  do  so.  But  in 
the  present  state  of  my  health  I  am  unable  to  attend,  still  less 
to  take  part  in  a  public  meeting  which  may  and  probably  will 
be  protracted  to  a  late  hour  in  the  evening. 

" ( I  most  cordially  concur  in  the  wish  you  express  that 
quiet,  good  feeling,  fraternal  affection,  and,  may  I  add,  the  old 
good  humor,  as  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  Republic,  may  once 
more  and  henceforward  prevail  between  us  and  our  brethren  of 
the  South. 

" '  While  no  one  will  question  the  right  of  the  citizens  indi 
vidually  or  collectively  to  express  their  views  and  opinions  on 
all  questions  affecting  the  public  interest,  it  must  be  granted 
that  those  opinions,  when  publicly  announced,  are  equally  the 
subject  of  discussion  and  criticism. 

" '  The  resolutions  adopted  at  a  public  meeting  held  in  this 
city  last  week  censure  the  Act  of  Congress  of  last  session,  com 
monly  called  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  as  "unjust  and  oppres 
sive,  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  and  the 
rights  of  men  under  them,  and  disgraceful  to  the  Government." 
Such  are  the  general  charges:  the  specifications  are,  that 
Marshals,  &c.,  are  compelled  under  heavy  penalties  to  obey  and 
execute  process  issued  under  this  law,  and  subjected  to  liability 
for  the  escape  of  such  fugitives,  whether  with  or  without  their 
assent.  This  would  seem  rather  an  objection  to  the  common 
law  than  to  this  particular  Act  of  Congress.  Sheriffs  and 
other  ministerial  officers  are  compellable  at  common  law  to 
obey  and  execute  all  lawful  process  to  them  directed,  and  sub 
jected  to  heavy  penalties  for  neglect  or  refusal.  The  same 
common  law  makes  the  Sheriff,  &c.,  liable  for  the  escape  of  a 
prisoner  in  rhis  custady,  whether  voluntary  or  not.  The 
Marshal  by  this  Act  is  only  placed  in  the  same  predicament  and 
subject  to  the  same  responsibility  as  a  Sheriff. 

" ( I  need  only  refer  to  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Crittenden,  the 
Attorney-General,  to  disprove  the  specification  that  this  Act 
renders  ineffectual  or  suspends  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  This 
writ  is  a  writ  of  right,  and  every  Judge,  on  a  proper  applica- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  67 

tion  to  him,  must  issue  it,  and  when  the  party  is  brought  be 
fore  him  must  determine  whether  the  imprisonment  be  legal  or 
not.  This  writ  can  only  be  suspended  by  Congress  in  the  cases 
specified  in  the  Constitution. 

" '  The  complaint  that  this  law  makes  the  petty  officers  of  a 
court  the  Judges  in  questions  of  personal  liberty  and  perpetual 
slavery,  without  appeal  or  review,  applies  with  equal  force  to 
the  Act  of  1793,  which  was  the  law  of  the  land  for  more  than 
half  a  century.  That  Act  gave  the  same  summary  remedy, 
authorised  the  arrest  of  the  alleged  fugitive  by  the  claimant, 
his  agent  or  attorney,  gave  the  Circuit  and  District  Judges  of  the 
United  States  Courts,  or  any  magistrate  of  any  county,  city,  or 
town  corporate  where  such  arrest  was  made,  jurisdiction  to  hear 
and  determine,  without  a  jury  and  without  appeal  or  review, 
and  the  certificate  of  such  Judge  or  magistrate  was  a  sufficient 
warrant  to  remove  the  fugitive  to  the  State  or  Territory  from 
whence  he  fled. 

"  '  The  principal  difference  in  this  respect  between  the  Act 
of  1793  and  this  Act  amendatory  and  supplementary  thereto,  is 
that  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Circuit  and  District  Courts 
of  the  United  States  are  substituted  for  the  county,  city  and  town 
magistrates ;  and  though  petty  officers,  or  rather  Judges  of  limited 
jurisdiction,  will  probably  be  found  quite  as  well  qualified  to  hear 
and  determine  as  their  predecessors  under  the  Act  of  1793. 
Judge  Story,  in  his  commentaries  on  the  Constitution,  has  shown 
the  reason  and  necessity  of  this  summary  remedy,  adopted  in 
1793  and  continued  under  the  amendatory  and  supplemental 
Act  of  1850. 

" ( It  is  further  objected  that  this  Act,  under  certain  circum 
stances,  compels  the  removal  of  the  fugitive  to  the  State  from 
whence  he  fled,  by  the  Marshal,  and  at  the  expense  of  the  United 
States.  The  Constitution  secures  to  the  owner  the  right  of 
reclaiming  his  slave  in  any  State  into  which  he  has  escaped. 
The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  decided  that  Con 
gress  has  the  sole  and  exclusive  power  of  legislation  on  this  sub 
ject,  and  to  carry  into  effect  this  provision  of  the  Constitution, 
the  Act  of  1793  as  well  as  that  of  1850  has  established  tribunals 
to  hear  and  determine  cases  of  this  description.  But  the 
jurisdiction  of  a  court  would  be  maimed  and  defective  without 
the  power  of  carrying  its  judgments  into  effectual  execution. 
This  amendatory  Act  of  1850  has  guarded  against  the  forcible 


68  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

rescue  of  one  adjudged  to  be  a  fugitive  and  bound  to  service, 
by  requiring  the  Marshal  to  remove  him  to  the  State  from 
whence  he  fled,  and  empowering  him  to  summon  assistance  to 
overcome  such  apprehended  force.  The  Sheriff  may  command 
the  power  of  his  county  where  the  process  of  the  court  is 
forcibly  resisted.  This  Act  in  the  case  specified  gives  the 
Marshal  a  similar  power  to  enforce  the  judgment  of  the  court. 
Have  we  not  reason  to  believe  that  in  many  cases  such  judg 
ments  would  prove  wholly  nugatory  and  unavailing  without 
some  such  provision  for  enforcing  them  ?  But  "  it  is  on  the 
oath  of  the  claimant  and  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States.77 
He  is  the  one  most  likely  to  be  apprised  of  an  intended  rescue, 
and  to  feel  apprehensions  of  its  success,  and  is  the  proper 
person  to  make  the  affidavit.  And  why  should  this  extra 
ordinary  expense  fall  on  the  claimant  ?  The  Constitution  has 
secured  his  right  of  recapture ;  he  has  established  that  right 
before  the  tribunal  created  by  law  to  hear  and  determine  such 
questions  ;  and  ought  not  the  Government  to  secure  to  him  the 
benefit  of  such  judgment  against  unlawful  force  and  violence  ? 
" '  I  have  gone  through  the  specifications  in  support  of  the 
general  charges  contained  in  the  resolutions.  However  they 
may  affect  others,  they  do  not  satisfy  my  mind  that  this  amend 
atory  and  supplemental  Act  deserves  the  character  given  to  it  by 
those  resolutions.  I  am,  gentlemen, 

" '  Very  respectfully  yours,  &c. 

"  '  JOSEPH  H.  CRANE. 

"  'To  Messrs.  GREEN,  KENNEDY,  GIDDINGS,  VALLANDIGHAM,  FITCH, 
and  SMITH.' 

"  On  motion  of  Major  L.  Giddings,  a  committee  of  nine 
were  appointed  to  draft  resolutions  expressive  of  the  sense 
of  the  meeting,  whereupon  the  Chair  appointed  the  following 
gentlemen  : —  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  E.  W.  Davies,  D.  G.  Fitch, 
I).  Z.  Pierce,  Thos.  J.  S.  Smith,  Jonathan  Harshman,  Alex. 
H.  Munn,  and  Daniel  Richmond. 

"  Major  Giddings  was  then  called  for,  and  responded  in  a 
brief  address,  sustaining  the  recent  Fugitive  Slave  Law  as  an 
important  and  indispensable  feature  of  the  Compromise. 

"  The  committee  being  ready  to  report,  through  their  Chair 
man,  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  the  resolutions  were  read,  which 
were  as  follows : — 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  69 

" '  Whereas,  in  the  opinion  of  the  meeting  here  assembled, 
a  crisis  of  imminent  peril  exists  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation, 
Avhich  demands  of  every  citizen  that  it  be  written  upon  his 
forehead  what  he  thinks  of  the  Republic ;  and  Whereas,  also, 
Congress,  at  the  session  just  adjourned,  after  many  months  of 
wearisome  and  dangerous  excitement  and  agitation,  have  pre 
sented  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  a  system  of  measures 
designed  to  settle  and  put  at  rest  forever  the  vexed  questions 
and  embittered  strifes  which  so  far  and  for  so  long  have 
weakened  the  ties  of  common  interests  and  a  common  brother 
hood,  and  periled  the  existence  even  of  the  Union  itself —  we, 
a  portion  of  the  people  of  Montgomery  County,  in  public 
meeting  assembled,  do  declare  and  resolve : 

"  '  1.  That  we  are  for  the  Union  as  it  is  and  the  Constitu 
tion  as  it  is,  and  that  we  will  preserve,  maintain,  and  defend 
both  at  every  hazard,  observing  with  scrupulous  and  uncalcu- 
lating  fidelity  every  article,  requirement,  and  compromise  of 
the  Constitutional  compact  between  these  States,  to  the  letter 
and  in  its  utmost  spirit,  and  recognising  no  "  higher  law  "  be 
tween  which  and  the  Constitution  we  know  of  any  conflict. 

" '  2.  That  the  Constitution  was  "  the  result  of  a  spirit  of 
amity  and  of  that  mutual  deference  and  concession  which  the 
peculiarity  of  our  political  situation  rendered  indispensable ; " 
that  by  amity,  conciliation,  and  compromise,  alone  can  it  and 
the  Union  which  it  established  be  preserved;  and  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  all  good  citizens  to  frown  indignantly  upon  every 
attempt,  wheresoever  or  by  whomsoever  made,  to  array  one 
section  of  the  Union  against  the  other ;  to  foment  jealousies 
and  heart-burnings  between  them  by  systematic  and  organized 
misrepresentation,  denunciation,  and  calumny,  and  thereby  to 
render  alien  in  feeling  and  affection  the  inheritors  of  so  noble 
a  common  patrimony,  purchased  by  our  fathers  at  so  great 
expense  of  blood  and  treasure. 

"  '  3.  That  as  the  friends  of  peace  and  concord  —  as  lovers 
of  the  Union,  and  foes,  sworn  upon  the  horns  of  the  altar  of 
our  common  country,  to  all  who  seek  and  all  that  tends  to  its 
dissolution — we  have  viewed  with  anxiety  and  alarm  the  perilous 
crisis  brought  upon  us  by  years  of  ceaseless  and  persevering 
agitation  of  the  Slavery  question  in  its  various  forms;  and 
that  the  Executive  and  Congress  of  the  United  States  have 
deserved  well  of  the  Republic  for  theii  patriotic  efforts  so  to 


70  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

compromise  and  adjust  this  vexed  question  as  to  leave  no  good 
cause  for  clamor  or  offence  by  any  portion  of  the  Union. 

" i  4.  That  a  strict  adherence  in  all  its  parts  to  the  Com 
promise  thus  deliberately  and  solemnly  effected,  is  essential  to 
the  restoration  and  maintenance  of  peace,  harmony,  and  fra 
ternal  affection  between  the  different  sections  of  the  Union,  and 
thereby  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union  itself;  and  that  GOOD 
FAITH  imperatively  demands  that  adherence  at  the  hands  of 
all  good  citizens  whether  of  the  North  or  of  the  South. 

" '  5.  That,  believing  this  Compromise  the  very  best  which, 
in  view  of  the  circumstances  and  temper  of  the  times,  could 
have  been  attained,  we  are  for  it  as  it  is,  and  opposed  to  all 
agitation  looking  to  a  repeal  or  essential  modification  of  any 
of  its  parts ;  and  that  we  will  lend  no  aid  or  comfort  to  those 
who  for  any  purpose  seek  further  to  agitate  and  embroil  the 
country  upon  these  questions. 

"'Q.  That  "all  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws, 
all  combinations  and  associations,  under  whatever  plausible 
character,  with  the  real  design  to  direct,  control,  counteract  or 
awe  the  regular  deliberation  and  action  of  the  constituted  au 
thorities,  are  destructive  of  the  fundamental  principle  of 
our  institutions  and  of  fatal  tendency  " ;  that  all  such  efforts, 
wherever  made  or  by  whomsoever  advised,  find  no  answering 
sympathy  in  our  breasts  —  nothing  but  loathing  and  contempt ; 
and  that  we  hereby  pledge  ourselves  to  the  country,  that  so 
far  as  in  us  lies,  the  UNION,  the  CONSTITUTION,  and  the  LAWS, 
must  and  shall  be  maintained. 

" '  7.  That  the  resolutions  adopted  in  this  Hall  on  the  19th 
of  October  do  not  meet  our  concurrence  either  in  language, 
temper,  or  object ;  that  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  they  do 
not  express  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  this  county,  and  will 
not  by  them  be  endorsed;  that  we  regard  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Act  of  1850  as  a  Constitutional  and  necessary  enactment  — 
an  amplification  and  fulfilment  of  the  Constitutional  compact, 
founded  directly  upon  and  demanded  by  it,  and  no  more 
stringent  than  that  compact  authorised  and  the  exigencies  of 
the  times  required.' 

"  Geo.  W.  Houk,  Esq.,  then  moved  the  adoption  of  the 
resolutions,  whereupon  Edward  W.  Davies,  Esq.,  in  a  very 
courteous  manner,  desired  that  if  there  were  any  in  the  meeting 
who  wereopposed  to  the  sentiments  expressed  in  the  resolutions, 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  71 

that  they  would  give  a  full  and  free  expression  of  their  opinions, 
and  assured  them  that  the  meeting  would  hear  them  with  the 
most  respectful  attention.  He  desired  this,  and  extended  the 
invitation,  hoping  that  if  such  sentiments  were  entertained,  the 
invitation  might  be  responded  to,  inasmuch  as  he  was  open 
to  conviction  and  always  wished  to  hear  both  sides  of  all 
questions. 

"  There  being  no  response  to  the  invitation,  T.  J.  S.  Smith, 
Esq.,  was  called  for  and  responded  in  a  short  speech,  giving  his 
entire  approbation  to  the  object  of  the  meeting  and  the  resolu 
tions. 

"  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  Esq.,  was  next  called  to  the  stand, 
and  responded,  sustaining  the  law  and  the  Constitution,  and 
reviewed  at  considerable  length  the  objections  to  the  law. 

"  The  question  was  then  put  upon  the  adoption  of  the 
resolutions  and  UNANIMOUSLY  carried." 


Mr.  Vallandigham  was  warmly  and  enthusiastically  in 
favor  of  the  Compromise  Measures  of  1850,  including  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  not  because  he  was  a  pro-slavery  man 
but  because  he  believed  that  slavery  was  recognised  and  pro 
tected  by  the  Constitution.  In  this  view  he  was  sustained  not 
only  by  the  ablest  statesmen  of  the  Northern  States,  but  also  by 
the  decisions  of  the  most  eminent  Judges  of  the  same  section. 
Judge  Baldwin,  a  distinguished  Judge  from  the  North,  a 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  said  that  the  right  of  Southern 
men  to  reclaim  fugitives  from  labor  (slaves)  was  the  corner 
stone  of  the  Union,  without  which,  he  avowed  in  a  judicial 
decision,  it  would  never  have  been  established;  and  Judge 
Story,  that  eminent  jurist,  said,  in  the  case  of  Prigg  vs.  Penn 
sylvania  —  speaking  of  the  section  of  the  Constitution  under 
which  the  law  was  made  — "  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  it  con 
stituted  a  fundamental  article,  without  the  adoption  of  which 
the  Union  could  not  have  been  formed." 


72  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Mr.  Vallandigham  recognised  in  political  matters  no  higher 
law  than  the  Constitution  of  his  country. 

During  the  years  1850  and  1851,  his  practice  largely  in 
creased  ;  and  although  his  health  was  not  as  firm  as  it  became 
at  a  later  period  of  his  life,  he  applied  himself  with  intense 
diligence  and  earnestness  to  his  professional  duties. 

At  the  Democratic  Convention  in  August,  1851,  he  was  a 
candidate  for  the  office  of  Lieutenant-Governor,  but  after  an 
animated  contest,  and  a  very  flattering  vote,  was  defeated. 
Edwin  M.  Stanton  (afterwards  the  famous  War  Secre 
tary),  and  Hon.  Allen  G.  Thurman,  were  candidates  before  the 
same  convention  for  Supreme  Judge,  and  were  both  defeated. 
The  Hon.  George  E.  Pugh  was  nominated  for  Attorney-Gen 
eral.  Mr.  Vallandigham  did  efficient  service  in  stumping  the 
State  in  the  campaign  following,  which  resulted  in  a  Demo 
cratic  majority  of  about  twenty-seven  thousand. 

In  August,  1852,  notwithstanding  strong  opposition,  he  was 
nominated  as  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  3d 
District,  which  was  then  composed  of  the  counties  of  Mont 
gomery,  Butler,  and  Preble.  The  convention  met  at  German- 
town,  in  Montgomery  County.  The  vote  on  the  nomination 
stood  for  Vallandigham  91,  for  P.  P.  Lowe  49,  and  for  King 
18.  Mr.  Vallandigham  conducted  the  canvass  with  great  in 
dustry  and  energy,  attending  and  addressing  meetings  in  almost 
every  township  in  the  District,  but  was  unsuccessful.  The 
majority  against  him,  however,  was  only  147  in  a  vote  of  about 
twenty  thousand.  Some  disaffected  Democrats  voted  for  Mr. 
Campbell,  his  competitor,  who  also  received  the  support  of  the 
Abolition,  or  Liberty  party.  The  Liberty  party  voted  against 
Mr.  Vallandigham  because  of  his  earnest  advocacy  and  sup- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  73 

port  of  the  Compromise  Measures.  They  acknowledged  his 
ability  and  integrity,  and  their  Central  Committee,  in  a  circular 
published  immediately  after  the  election,  thus  refer  to  him  : — 
"  In  opposition  to  Mr.  Campbell,  the  Democratic  party  had 
nominated  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  a  lawyer  of  high  standing,  an 
eloquent  and  ready  debater,  of  gentlemanly  deportment  and 
unblemished  private  character,  and  untiring  industry  and 
energy.  But  he  was  known  to  all  to  be  an  ultra  pro-slavery 
man  (anti-abolitionist ) ;  he  undertook  with  a  relish  to  carry 
the  load  of  the  Compromise  Measures,  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  included,  and  he  broke  down  under  the  burden." 

During  the  summer  of  1853,  in  company  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  John  V.  L.  McMahon,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore,  he  took  a 
long  and  delightful  journey  through  the  mountains  of  Virginia. 
Starting  from  Cumberland,  Maryland,  they  proceeded  by  easy 
stages,  often  stopping  for  days  in  a  neighborhood  to  gun 
and  fish,  through  Romney,  Virginia,  Moorefield,  Franklin, 
McDowell,  and  the  Greenbrier  Springs,  to  an  obscure  little  hotel 
in  the  mountains  near  the  last-named  place.  Here  they  spent 
several  days  in  trout-fishing  and  exploring  the  mountain 
heights  around  them.  They  returned  northward  in  the  same 
leisurely  manner,  travelling  much  in  the  way  described  in  the 
interesting  work  of  Col.  Strother,  Virginia  Illustrated.  In 
after-days  both  of  these  eminent  men  were  accustomed  to  descant 
with  the  highest  pleasure  on  the  incidents  connected  with  this 
journey,  and  Mr.  Vallandigham  often  referred  to  that  period 
as  one  of  the  happiest  of  his  life.  His  health  was  much  im 
proved  by  this  journey ;  and  the  intimate  converse  with  a  man 
of  so  remarkable  ability  as  Mr.  McMahon,  and  the  reflections 
awakened  and  meditations  indulged  in  amidst  the  grand  scenery 


74  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

through  which  they  passed,  had  no  doubt  an  equally  happy 
effect  upon  his  mind.  It  was  singular  that  these  men,  who 
had  been  so  intimate  and  so  warmly  attached  though  differing 
widely  in  many  respects,  should  have  died  within  a  very  few 
hours  of  each  other.  United  in  life, —  "tried  friends,  fond 
brothers," —  they  were  not  long  separated. 

In  1854  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  again  nominated,  this  time 
with  but  little  opposition,  for  Representative  in  Congress. 
Meantime,  since  1852  great  changes  had  occurred  in  the  politics 
of  the  country.  The  Whig  party  had  perished :  it  did  not  long 
survive  the  loss  of  its  great  leaders,  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel 
"Webster,  both  of  whom  died  in  1852.  In  opposition  to  the 
Democracy  was  arrayed  the  wonderful  strength,  though  it  was 
evanescent,  of  the  Mystic  Brotherhood,  the  American  or  Know- 
nothing  party.  A  storm  of  indignation  too  had  been  aroused 
in  the  North  by  the  passage  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  and  by  what 
was  denounced  as  the  violation  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
The  Hon.  Lewis  D.  Campbell  was  again  nominated  against 
him.  The  campaign  was  active  and  animated.  Mr.  Yallan- 
digham  denounced  the  Know-nothing  order  in  the  severest 
terms  everywhere  in  the  district,  yet  towards  the  close  of  the 
canvass  the  excitement  was  raised  to  fever  heat  by  the  report, 
widely  circulated  and  most  emphatically  affirmed,  that  he  was 
himself  a  member  of  the  order.  In  Butler  County  this  excite 
ment  was  greatly  augmented  by  many  bets  being  offered  by 
Mr.  Vallandigham's  friends  and  taken  by  his  opponents,  that 
the  allegation  made  against  him  was  untrue.  Several  affrays 
growing  out  of  this  charge  took  place  in  different  parts  of 
the  district.  Two  of  the  most  prominent  and  respectable 
gentlemen  of  the  city  of  Hamilton  became  so  enraged  in  a  dis- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  75 

cussion  upon  the  subject,  that  from  words  they  came  to  blows, 
and  quite  a  desperate  rencounter  occurred,  in  which  the  Demo 
crat,  a  prominent  politician  and  then  sheriff  of  the  county,  was 
the  victor,  and  thus  acquired  the  title,  which  he  bore  for  many 
years,  of  the  "  fighting  sheriff."  It  is  proper  to  say  that  he 
was  not  the  aggressor.  On  Monday  before  the  election  Mr. 
Yallandigham  went  down  to  Hamilton,  and  before  Judge  Jo- 
siah  Scott,  afterwards  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  made 
solemn  oath  that  he  was  not  and  never  had  been  a  member 
of  the  organization.  The  manner  in  which  the  report  gained 
such  strength  and  credence,  was  this :  Some  days  before  the 
election  one  of  Mr.  Yallandigham's  political  opponents,  presi 
dent  of  a  Know-nothing  lodge,  came  up  from  Hamilton  to 
Dayton,  and  induced  the  president  of  a  Know-nothing  lodge 
in  the  latter  city  to  sign  a  statement  that  Mr.  Yallandigham 
was  a  member  of  his  lodge.  This  was  taken  back  to  Hamilton, 
and  was  considered  so  authoritative  that  many  were  induced 
to  stake  money  upon  its  truth.  But  the  person  who  made  the 
statement  afterwards  swore  solemnly  that  it  was  untrue,  and 
that  so  far  as  he  knew,  Mr.  Vallandigham  never  belonged  to 
the  Know-nothing  order.  In  fact,  Mr.  Yallandigham  early 
learned  from  a  personal  friend  who  did  belong  to  the  order, 
all  about  it,  its  ritual,  its  signs,  grips,  &c.,  and  immediately 
expressed  his  opposition  to  it  and  took  the  first  public  oppor 
tunity  to  denounce  it. 

The  year  1854  was  one  of  disaster  to  the  Democracy;  the 
party  was  everywhere  defeated,  and  Mr.  Yallandigham  fared 
no  better  than  his  brethren  elsewhere.  The  majority  against 
him  was  2565,  although  he  ran  between  four  and  five  hundred 
ahead  of  the  State  ticket  in  the  district.  He  took  his  defeat  in 


76  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM, 

the  most  philosophical  manner  possible,  and  again  concentrated 
his  energies  upon  the  practice  of  law. 

During  the  campaign  of  1854  his  son  Charles  was  born,  and 
Mr.  Vallandigham's  letters  about  this  time  to  his  relatives  and 
most  intimate  friends  were  more  devoted  to  accounts  of  domestic 
affairs  than  the  discussion  of  politics.  Mr.  Vallandigham  has 
often  been  denounced  as  a  cold-hearted,  ill-tempered  man  by 
those  who  cannot  understand  that  the  hand  which  is  strongest 
in  the  contest  with  men  may  be  the  tenderest  and  most  gentle 
in  the  family  circle.  Children  always  by  instinct  seemed  to 
love  him ;  and  it  was  his  delight,  when  relieved  for  a  time  of 
the  cares  of  the  world,  to  watch  their  innocent  gambols  and 
take  part  in  their  amusements.  His  was  a  stormy  and  busy 
life,  however,  and  but  little  time  was  granted  him  in  which  to 
unbend  his  brows  and  give  way  freely  to  the  natural  feelings 
of  a  warm  and  affectionate  heart. 

The  winter  and  spring  passed  pleasantly  over  his  head ;  all 
of  his  time  which  he  could  spare  from  his  office  being  spent 
in  his  own  household,  in  the  society  of  his  family  and  friends, 
and  in  general  reading.  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  for  the  country 
to  escape  a  great  civil  war.  Resolved  to  do  what  he  could  to 
avert  it,  he  determined  to  make  a  speech  of  warning  to  the 
Democracy  on  this  subject.  This  speech  he  delivered  before  a 
Democratic  meeting  in  Dayton  on  the  29th  of  October,  1855, 
and  it  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  eloquent  speeches  of  his 
life.  It  was  a  searching  and  exhaustive  review  and  exposition 
of  the  rise,  progress,  and  full  development  of  the  Abolition 
movement  in  the  United  States  ;  and  its  purpose  was  to  bring 
the  Democratic  party  up  to  meet  the  slavery  issue  fairly  and 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  77 

boldly,  and  thus  to  restore  it  to  sound  doctrine  and  discipline, 
and  therefore  to  power  and  usefulness.  Firmly  believing  that 
the  continued  agitation  of  the  Slavery  question  would  result  in 
civil  war,  and  perhaps  in  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  he  pointed 
out  with  earnestness  the  duties  of  the  hour  and  the  danger 
impending  the  country. 

This  speech  excited  much  interest  and  attention :  by  request 
of  those  wno  heard  it,  it  was  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  and 
widely  circulated.  It  was  highly  lauded  even  by  some  of  his 
political  opponents.  The  Dayton  Empire  thus  speaks  of  it : — 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  opened  the  meeting  in  a  powerful 
speech.  His  argument  upon  the  Slavery  question  was  one  of 
the  most  connected,  logical,  forcible  and  brilliant  arguments 
that  we  have  ever  listened  to.  He  reviewed  the  whole  subject, 
he  went  over  the  whole  field,  and  there  was  no  candid  man 
present  who  did  not  feel  that  he  had  triumphantly  vindicated 
Democratic  principles  and  Democratic  policy.  He  was  fre 
quently  interrupted  by  loud  bursts  of  applause.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Vallandigham's  effort  was  the  best  of  his  life.  We  have  heard 
many  say  that  it  was  the  very  best  political  speech  that  they 
ever  heard ;  and  if  we  may  judge  from  the  applause  with  which 
he  was  greeted,  this  opinion  was  not  confined  to  a  few." 

The  following  is  from  the  Dayton  Journal,  a  Whig 
paper : — 

"  Having  some  curiosity  to  learn  the  precise  object  of  the 
meeting  advertised  by  the  Democracy  for  Monday  evening,  we 
took  a  seat  in  the  City  Hall,  and  listened  to  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Vallandigham  from  beginning  to  the  end.  It  would  be  unfair 
to  deny  to  the  effort  of  Mr.  V.  signal  ability,  ingenuity,  and 
eloquence,  or  to  refuse  to  admit  that,  considering  his  strong 
Democratic  proclivities,  there  was  more  of  fairness  in  his  man 
ner  of  treating  questions  of  a  purely  partisan  character  than 
we  had  been  led  to  expect.  His  detail  of  the  rise,  progress, 
and  combinations  of  i  third  parties/  or  '  isms/  was  interesting 
and  instructive.  His  statement  of  the  introduction  of  slavery 


78  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

into  this  country,  and  the  agencies  by  which  it  was  accom 
plished  and  the  traffic  in  slaves  upheld,  though  not  unfamiliar 
to  many  persons,  might  be  considered  with  profit  by  a  great 
many  more.  But  with  all  this  there  was  a  disposition  to  glo 
rify  and  uphold  the  Democratic  party  which  we  confess  was 
altogether  unpalatable  to  the  old-fashioned  "Whiggism  with 
which  we  have  been  indoctrinated  ;  though  it  is  to  be  stated  by 
way  of  offset,  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  at  times  not  a  little 
severe  upon  the  inconsistency  and  subserviency  of  this  same 
Democratic  party. 

"  The  principal  demonstration  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  was 
against  fanaticism  and  sectionalism,  and  here  much  that  he 
said  was  just  to  the  point.  He  argued  in  favor  of  confining 
questions  of  morals  and  politics  to  their  legitimate  and  appro 
priate  spheres,  and  against  all  stirring  up  of  strife  between  the 
North  and  the  South.  He  traced  opposition  to  the  enforce 
ment  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  to  hostility  to  the  Constitu 
tion  itself,  and  a  pretended  responsibility  in  the  North  for 
the  '  sinfulness '  of  slavery  as  the  fruitful  source  of  the  feeling 
of  alienation  which  had  been  engendered  between  the  North 
and  the  South.  He  contended  that  with  the  alleged  sinfulness 
of  slavery  the  North  had  nothing  to  do.  It  was  enough  for 
the  people  of  the  North  to  know  that  the  '  peculiar  institution 
was  sustained  by  the  Constitution/  His  object  was  not  to  dis 
cuss  the  evils  or  the  sinfulness  of  slavery,  or  to  express  any 
opinion  in  regard  to  its  evils  or  its  merits.  He  was  anxious  to 
meet  and  repel  every  attempt  to  make  the  existence  of  slavery 
in  the  South,  or  elsewhere,  a  pretext  for  the  formation  of  sec 
tional  parties  which  must  endanger  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Union." 

The  following  are  some  of  the  closing  sentences  of  the 
speech : — 

"  All  this,  gentlemen,  the  spirit  of  Abolition  has  accomplished 
in  twenty  years  of  continued  and  exhausting  labors  of  every 
sort.  But  in  all  that  time  not  one  convert  has  it  made  in  the 
South,  not  one  slave  emancipated,  except  in  larceny  and  in 
fraud  of  the  solemn  compacts  of  the  Constitution.  Meantime 
public  opinion  has  wholly,  radically  changed  in  the  South. 
The  South  has  ceased  to  denounce,  ceased  to  condemn  slavery, 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  79 

ceased  even  to  palliate,  and  begun  now  almost  as  one  man  to 
defend  it  as  a  great  moral,  social  and  political  blessing.  The 
bitter  and  prescriptive  warfare  of  twenty  years  has  brought  forth 
its  natural  and  legitimate  fruit  in  the  South.  Exasperation, 
hate  and  revenge  are  every  day  ripened  into  fullest  maturity 
and  strength,  and  now  needs  but  the  acts  of  the  North  to  unite 
in  solemn  league  and  covenant  to  resist  aggression  even  unto 
blood. 

"  I  know  well,  indeed,  Mr.  President,  that  in  the  evil  day 
that  has  befallen  us,  all  this  and  he  who  utters  it  shall  be 
denounced  as  '  pro-slavery ;'  and  already  from  ribald  throats 
there  comes  up  the  slavering,  drivelling,  idiot  epithet  of '  dough 
face/  Again,  be  it  so.  These,  Abolitionists,  are  your  only 
weapons  of  warfare,  and  I  hurl  them  back  defiantly  into  your 
teeth.  I  speak  thus  boldly  because  I  speak  in  and  to  and  for 
the  North.  It  is  time  that  the  truth  should  be  known  and 
heard  in  this  age  of  trimming  and  subterfuge.  I  speak  this 
day  not  as  a  Northern  man,  nor  a  Southern  man,  but,  God  be 
thanked,  still  as  a  United  States  man,  with  United  States  prin 
ciples  ;  and  though  the  worst  happen  which  can  happen,  though 
all  be  lost,  if  that  shall  be  our  fate,  and  I  walk  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  political  death,  I  will  live  by  them  and 
die  by  them.  If  to  love  my  country,  to  cherish  the  Union,  to 
revere  the  Constitution ;  if  to  abhor  the  madness  and  hate  the 
treason  which  would  lift  up  a  sacrilegious  hand  against  either ; 
if  to  read  that  in  the  past,  to  behold  it  in  the  present,  to  foresee 
it  in  the  future  of  this  land,  which  is  of  more  value  to  us  and 
the  world  for  ages  to  come  than  all  the  multiplied  millions  who 
have  inhabited  Africa  from  the  creation  to  this  day  —  if  this  is 
to  be  pro-slavery,  then  in  every  nerve,  fibre,  vein,  bone,  tendon, 
joint  and  ligament,  from  the  topmost  hair  of  the  head  to  the 
last  extremity  of  the  foot,  I  am  all  over  and  altogether  a  pro- 
slavery  man. 

"  The  true  and  only  question  now  before  you  is  whether 
you  will  have  union,  with  all  its  numberless  blessings  in  the 
past,  present  and  future,  or  disunion  and  civil  war,  with  all 
the  multiplied  crimes,  miseries  and  atrocities  which  human 
imagination  never  conceived  and  human  pen  never  can 
portray. 

"  I  speak  it  boldly,  I  avow  it  publicly :  it  is  time  to  speak 
thus,  for  political  cowardice  is  the  bane  of  this  as  of  all  other 


80  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

republics.  To  be  true  to  our  great  mission  and  to  succeed  in 
it,  you  must  take  open,  manly,  one-sided  ground  upon  the 
Abolition  question.  In  no  other  way  can  you  now  conquer. 
Let  us  have,  then,  no  hollow, compromise ;  no  idle  and  mistimed 
homilies  upon  the  sin  and  evil  of  slavery  in  a  crisis  like  this ; 
no  double-tongued,  Janus-faced,  Delphic  responses  at  your  State 
conventions.  No !  fling  your  banner  to  the  breeze  and  boldly 
meet  the  issue :  Patriotism  above  mock  philanthropy ;  the 
Constitution  before  any  miscalled  higher  law  of  morals  or 
religion ;  and  the  Union  of  more  value  than  many  negroes. 

"  If  thus,  Sir,  we  are  true  to  the  country,  true  to  the  Union 
and  the  Constitution,  true  to  our  principles,  true  to  our  cause 
and  to  the  grand  mission  which  lies  before  us,  we  shall  turn 
back  yet  the  fiery  torrent  which  is  bearing  us  headlong  down 
the  abyss  of  disunion  and  infamy  deeper  than  plummet  ever 
sounded.  But  if  in  this  day  of  our  trial  we  are  found  false  to 
all  of  these  —  false  to  our  ancestors,  false  to  ourselves,  false  to 
those  who  shall  come  after  us ;  traitors  to  our  country  and  to 
the  hopes  of  free  government  throughout  the  globe  —  Bancroft 
will  yet  write  the  last  sad  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  American 
Republic." 

To  those  who  have  grown  up  since  the  new  era  of  emanci 
pation  —  to  whom  the  triumph  of  Abolitionism,  even  at  the 
cost  of  a  bloody  civil  war,  appears  to  be  a  glorious  progressive 
movement — it  may  seem  that  the  vigorous  defence  of  the  rights 
of  the  South,  and  the  violent  opposition  to  Abolitionism  of 
Mr.  Yallandigham  and  other  Northern  men,  was  uncalled  for 
and  improper.  Before,  however,  they  denounce  these  men  or 
harshly  condemn  their  course,  let  them  carefully  examine  the 
past  history  of  the  country.  In  such  investigation  they  will 
learn  some  facts  that  may  modify  their  views  and  soften  the 
asperity  of  their  feelings,  and  teach  them  wholesome  lessons  of 
charity.  They  will  learn  that  the  stern  old  Puritans,  from 
whom  they  are  proud  to  claim  their  descent,  were  many  of 
them  slaveholders,  holding  not  only  negroes,  but  also  Indians 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  81 

in  bondage;  that  the  institution  of  slavery  existed  in  nearly 
all  the  States  of  the  Union  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution;  that  it  was  recognised  and  protected  by  that 
Constitution ;  that  probably  a  majority  of  the  framers  of  that 
instrument  were  slaveholders  ;  that  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  was  drawn  up  by  a  slaveholder ;  that  a  large  propor 
tion  of  the  great  men  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic  who 
have  adorned  the  pages  of  our  history,  were  slaveholders  ;  and 
if  we  were  to  strike  from  our  annals  the  names  of  those  illus 
trious  men,  but  a  barren  list  would  be  left  of  our  heroes  and 
statesmen.  We  should  have  no  Jefferson  or  Madison,  no 
Chief-Justice  Marshall  or  William  Wirt,  no  Clay,  or  Calhoun, 
or  Jackson;  and  above  all,  no  Washington.  They  should 
call  to  mind  the  fact  that  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves 
in  the  Northern  States  was  not  a  sudden  thing,  nor  entirely 
brought  about  by  feelings  of  humanity ;  that  it  was  gradual, 
and  that  a  large  number  of  slaves  in  the  North  were  sold  to 
the  South  by  their  owners  before  emancipation  laws  had  been 
enacted,  or  at  least  before  they  had  gone  into  operation.  Nor 
should  it  be  forgotten  that  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in 
the  South  was  not  the  result  of  any  great  moral  feeling  or 
humanitarian  impulse  on  the  part  of  its  authors.  It  was  a 
war  measure,  just  as  their  enfranchisement  was  accomplished, 
because  those  who  effected  it  regarded  it  as  a  political  necessity, 
in  order  to  preserve  the  power  of  the  Eepublican  party  and  to 
control  the  politics  of  the  country. 

Although  Mr.  Valkindigham  was  always  opposed  to  Aboli 
tionism,  it  was  simply  because  the  Slavery  agitation  disturbed 
the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  country,  assailed  the  principle 
of  State  Rights,  and  threatened  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
6 


82  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

He  was  no  advocate  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  institution.  He 
believed  that  ultimately,  without  any  shock  to  our  political 
system,  it  would  be  abolished — gradually,  and  by  the  action 
of  the  Slave  States  themselves:  this  he  considered  the  only 
wise  and  safe  plan,  and  for  this  he  was  willing  to  wait. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

ELECTION    TO    CONGKESS    IN    1856,   AND  CONTEST    FOR  THE 

SEAT. 

ON  the  28th  day  of  July,  1856,  the  Democratic  Convention 
to  nominate  a  candidate  for  Congress  from  the  3d  District  of 
Ohio,  met  at  Eaton,  in  Preble  County.  After  duly  organising, 
the  names  of  Mr.  Isaac  Robinson,  Hon.  William  King,  and 
Judge  Kinder,  that  had  been  presented,  were  withdrawn,  and 
on  motion  of  Col.  Hendrickson,  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  nom 
inated  by  acclamation. 

It  was  the  year  of  the  first  struggle  for  the  Presidency  by 
the  Republican  or  Abolition  party,  now  consolidated  by  the 
total  dissolution  of  the  Whig  party.  The  Presidential  canvass 
was  extremely  violent ;  but  in  the  Third  District  it  was  wholly 
forgotten  in  the  terrible  bitterness  of  the  Congressional  contest. 
Nothing  equal  to  it  had  ever  occurred  in  the  United  States. 
The  Abolition  party  had  renominated  Mr.  Campbell,  who  had 
twice  before  been  Mr.  Vallandigham's  successful  competitor. 
For  three  months,  day  and  night,  every  energy  of  the  candi 
dates  and  their  respective  parties  was  exhausted ;  and  at  the 
end  of  the  canvass,  Mr.  Campbell  appeared  by  the  official 
count  to  be  elected  by  nineteen  majority.  Gross  and  palpable 
frauds  had  been  committed  by  the  successful  party ;  and  upon 
this  ground,  and  because  a  number  of  negro  votes  had  been 


84  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

cast  for  his  competitor,  the  friends  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  de 
manded  that  he  should  contest  the  election.  He  consented, 
and  on  the  25th  of  October  served  on  Mr.  Campbell  a  notice 
of  contest.  A  technical  objection  having  been  suggested  to  the 
sufficiency  of  this  notice,  he  avoided  it  by  serving  the  notice 
again  on  the  29th  of  December,  1856.  On  the  27th  of  Jan 
uary,  1857,  he  received  a  formal  reply  to  the  notice,  assigning 
the  reasons  why  the  contestee  would  insist  upon  his  right  to  the 
seat.  The  contestant  commenced  taking  depositions  in  support 
of  his  claims,  in  Butler  County,  on  the  2d  of  February,  1857, 
represented  by  his  attorney,  F.  Vanderveer,  Esq.  (afterwards 
Colonel  and  then  General  in  the  Federal  army),  the  contestee 
being  represented  by  N.  C.  McFarland,  Esq.  From  the  20th 
to  the  28th  of  March  testimony  on  his  behalf  was  taken  in 
Montgomery  County,  J.  A.  McMahon,  Esq.,  acting  as  attorney 
for  the  contestor,  and  F.  P.  Cuppy,  Esq.,  for  the  contestee.  On 
account  of  the  expiration  of  the  sixty  days  limited  by  law  from 
the  time  of  giving  notice,  the  contestant  was  unable  to  take 
any  testimony  in  Preble,  the  other  county  of  the  District. 
The  contestee  did  not  commence  taking  testimony  on  his  be 
half  until  within  eleven  days  of  the  expiration  of  the  period 
limited  by  law ;  and  about  that  time  wrote  to  Mr.  Vallandig 
ham,  proposing  to  waive  all  technicalities,  and  each  to  proceed 
to  take  further  testimony  in  the  case.  Mr.  Vallandigham  re 
fused  to  accede  to  this  proposition,  but  wrote  to  Mr.  Campbell, 
saying  that  he  was  willing  to  waive  all  advantages  as  well  sub 
stantial  as  technical,  and  at  such  time  as  the  Governor  of  the 
State  might  appoint,  or  if  the  contestee  should  prefer  it,  on  the 
second  Tuesday  of  October  following,  to  submit  again  the 
question  to  the  people  of  the  District  for  their  final  decision. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM,  85 

To  this  proposition  Mr.  Campbell  made  no  reply,  and  so  the 
matter  rested  till  the  first  of  December. 

In  June,  1857,  occurred  the  Ohio  rebellion.  The  deputies 
of  the  United  States  Marshal  of  the  Southern  District  of  Ohio, 
in  the  execution  of  a  regular  judicial  process,  issued  under  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Act,  took  in  custody  several  slaves.  They  were 
pursued  by  a  body  of  armed  men,  more  than  fifty  in  number, 
from  Champaign  County,  through  Clark  into  Green  County, 
and  there  attacked  and  overpowered  and  the  negroes  rescued. 
The  assailants  of  the  Deputy  Marshals  were  acting  by  virtue 
of  a  writ  tfhabeas  corpus,  under  a  recent  law  of  Ohio  which  had 
been  passed  for  the  very  purpose  of  obstructing  the  execution  of 
the  provisions  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  in  that  State.  This 
writ  had  been  issued  by  the  Probate  Judge  of  Champaign 
county,  and  was  directed  to  the  sheriff  of  that  county,  directing 
him  to  take  the  rjrisoners  from  the  Marshals.  The  Marshals, 
acting  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States  laws,  believing 
that  authority  to  be  paramount,  resisted  the  sheriff,  and  were 
therefore  arrested  011  State  process  before  a  Justice,  and  com 
mitted  to  jail.  To  discharge  them  from  imprisonment  a  habeas 
corpus  was  issued  from  the  United  States  Court  at  Cincinnati. 
In  the  feverish  state  of  the  public  mind  upon  slavery,  this  of 
course  excited  much  attention  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  and 
created  much  feeling.  The  Abolitionists  deeply  resented  the 
action  of  the  United  States  authorities ;  and  although  the  statute 
under  which  the  Government  officers  had  been  obstructed  in  the 
performance  of  their  duties  was  clearly  a  nullification  of  one  of 
the  most  important  laws  of  the  United  States,  one  made  under 
a  special  section  of  the  Constitution,  a  part  of  the  Compromise 
measures  of  1850,  and  one  already  declared  constitutional,  they 


86  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

determined  to  assert  State  authority  and  punish  the  United 
States  officers  if  possible.  Governor  Chase,  who  proclaimed 
the  extreme  doctrine  of  State  Rights,  considered  the  sovereignty 
of  Ohio  attacked.  He  manifested  great  interest  in  the  case,  and 
sent  the  Attorney-General  to  argue  the  case  for  the  State.  The 
Governor  was  supported  in  his  views  by  a  majority  of  his  party. 
They  controlled  the  State,  and  exhibited  a  spirit  of  defiance  to 
the  Government  which  was  calculated  to  produce  alarm. 
Threats  of  resistance  to  the  United  States  authority  were  openly 
made.  This  affair  was  known  as  the  "Ohio  Rebellion.7' 
Under  circumstances,  therefore,  of  unusual  excitement,  Mr, 
Vallandigham,  with  the  Hon.  George  E.  Pugh  and  Stanley 
Matthews,  Esq.,  appeared  for  the  United  States.  The  case  was 
tried  before  Judge  Leavitt,  the  man  who  afterwards  gained 
disreputable  notoriety  by  his  decision  in  the  habeas  corpus  of 
Mr.  Vallandigham.  It  was  argued  with  great  ability  by  the 
attorneys  on  both  sides;  and  in  the  course  of  his  speech  the 
Attorney-General  took  occasion  in  very  plain  language  to  make 
the  issue  between  the  State  of  Ohio  and  the  General  Govern 
ment,  and  advocated  with  much  ability  and  earnestness  the 
extreme  doctrines  of  the  State  Rights  party.  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham's  argument,  from  which  we  append  some  extracts,  called 
forth  the  highest  commendation.  Maintaining  the  vital  doc 
trine  of  State  Rights  to  the  fullest  extent,  he  yet  asserted  and 
upheld  the  absolute  supremacy  of  the  Federal  Government 
within  its  constitutional  limits.  Mr.  Vallandigham  commenced 
by  referring  to  the  question  of  excess  and  abuse  of  authority  by 
the  Marshals  in  resisting  the  efforts  to  rescue  the  negroes,  and 
averred  that  it  was  distinctly  established  that  no  more  was  done 
by  the  Marshals  than  was  necessary,  or  certainly  at  the  moment 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  87 

and  under  the  circumstances  appeared  necessary,  to  prevent  the 
rescue  of  their  prisoners,  and  to  defend  themselves  against 
violence,  if  not  loss  of  life.  He  then  cited  many  authorities  to 
sustain  a  proposition  questioned  by  the  Attorney-General,  that 
in  habeas  corpus  cases,  courts  exercising  common  law  jurisdic 
tion  could  go  behind  the  return  when  the  party  was  held  under 
judicial  process,  and  inquire  by  affidavit  or  otherwise  into  the 
true  facts  of  the  capture  and  detention  of  the  party  in  custody. 
This  was  an  important  point,  for  the  Sheriff's  return  upon  its 
face  appeared  to  show  good  and  sufficient  cause  for  the  seizure, 
detention  and  commitment  of  the  prisoners.  He  spoke  at  great 
length  and  with  much  earnestness  of  the  extraordinary  statute 
nullifying  the  United  States  law,  under  color  of  which  the  Mar 
shals  had  been  obstructed  in  the  performance  of  their  duties, 
and  ultimately  cast  into  prison.  He  said  the  writ  by  which 
the  United  States  officers  had  been  arrested  in  the  discharge  of 
their  proper  functions  was  — 

" .  .  .  .  not  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus ;  not  the  high  pre 
rogative  writ  of  old  England,  not  the  great  writ  secured  by  the 
Constitution,  having  none  of  its  sanctity,  and  entitled  to  no 
part  of  its  charities.  It  was  not  directed  to  the  party  who  de 
tained  the  prisoners  (the  negroes)  in  custody.  This  is  of  the 
very  essence  of  a  habeas  cor 'pus ;  it  is  descriptive  of  it,  and 
enters  into  a  definition  of  the  writ.  But  it  is  called  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  because  that  is  a  holy  name  and  embalmed  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people.  It  had  a  wicked  and  treasonable 
purpose  to  subserve,  and  it  must  assume  a  sacred  name  and 
garb.  Its  author  well  understood  the  philosophy  of  Mirabeau, 
and  after  him  Byron.  He  knew  that  — 

Words  are  things ;    and  a  small  drop  of  ink, 

Falling  like  dew  upon  a  thought,  produces 

That  which  makes  thousands,  perhaps  millions,  think. 

But  the  motives  and  the  results  expected  from  it  cannot  be 
thus  concealed,  and  in  a  court  of  law  it  must  be  stripped  of 


88  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    V  ALL  AN  DIGRAM. 

its  disguises,  and  set  forth  in  its  true  character  —  a  statute  of 

sedition  and-discord He  agreed  heartily  and  throughout 

with  the  State  Eights  doctrines  which  the  Attorney-General 
with  so  much  ability  had  advocated.  He  (Mr.  V.)  yielded  to 
no  man  in  devotion  to  those  doctrines.  Perhaps  he  even 
carried  them  farther  than  many  others.  But  this  was  not  a 
question  of  State  Eights.  We  lived  under  two  governments, 
which  were  only  parts  of  one  great  whole.  Neither  govern 
ment  possessed  all  the  attributes  of  sovereignty.  Every  citizen 
of  Ohio,  and  especially  by  a  peculiarity  of  our  State  Constitu 
tion,  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  As  citizens  of  Ohio  we 
do  not  exercise  the  right  to  declare  war  and  make  peace,  to 
maintain  an  army  and  navy,  &c.  In  the  quality  of  citizens  of 
the  United  States  we  do  exercise  these  powers,  though  as  such 
citizens  we  are  wanting  in  others  which  belong  to  us  in  our 
character  as  citizens  of  the  State.  Sovereignty  is,  therefore, 
divided  among  the  governments  of  the  States  and  the  Union. 
The  boundaries  are  defined  and  marked  out  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  Each  is  supreme  within  its  own  limits. 
Neither  can  be  interfered  with  by  the  other  while  each  keeps 
within  its  own  proper  orbit.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  all  laws  in  pursuance  of  it,  are  indeed  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land ;  and  where  constitutional,  in  case  of  conflict, 
bind  the  Judges  of  the  State  Courts.  All  State  officers  are 
sworn  to  support  it.  Thus  the  Constitution  of  the  Union  is  a 
part  of  the  Constitution  of  Ohio  ;  the  laws  in  pursuance  of  it 
are  a  part  of  the  legislation  of  the  State,  and  the  decisions  of 
its  courts  within  their  sphere  a  part  of  the  jurisprudence  of 
the  State ;  and  all  are  to  be  construed  together.  So  long  as 
each  government  keeps  within  its  constitutional  and  legitimate 
sphere,  such  is  the  admirable  beauty  and  the  perfection  of  the 
system  that  there  never  can  be  a  collision.  Wherever,  then, 
the  courts  or  authorities  of  the  United  States  have  constitu 
tional  power  to  act,  their  process  and  action  ought  to  be  wholly 
free  from  all  control,  temporary  or  permanent,  in  any  way  or  to 
any  extent,  by  State  action  or  State  process.  It  is  of  no 
moment  what  the  purpose  is,  or  how  long  the  intermeddling, 
whether  for  an  hour,  a  day,  or  six  months.  And,  in  this  point 
of  view,  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  is  no  more  sacred,  and  has 
no  more  power  or  authority  to  control,  or  delay,  or  affect  in  any 
way,  or  for  any  purpose,  or  any  time,  the  process  of  the 
United  States,  than  a  capias,  an  execution,  or  an  attachment. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    £.    VALLANDIGHAM.  89 

"  Mr.  V.  would  now  apply  these  principles  to  the  argument 
of.  the  Attorney-General  this  morning.      Assuming  the  very 
point  in  controversy,  Mr.  Attorney  had  selected  his   ground 
and  built  up  a  most  able  and  ingenious,  and,  he  would  say,  un 
answerable  argument.     Mr.  V.  would  give   him   the  whole 
benefit  of  it  in  its  utmost  strength.     He  finds  the  collision 
which  confessedly  exists  in  this  case  between  the  State  and  the 
United  States,  in  an  attempt   by  this  proceeding  on  habeas 
corpus,  under  the  Act  of  Congress  in  1833,  to  obstruct  and 
render  useless  and  powerless  the  penal  laws  and  jurisprudence 
of  the  State,  and  to  protect  hereby  the  Marshals  of  the  United 
States  from  punishment  for  an  infraction  of  those  laws  —  the 
laws  against  assault  and  battery  and  the  attempt  to  murder. 
He  has  argued,  and  most  conclusively  —  and  it  was  his  whole 
argument  —  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot 
interfere  with  the  penal  laws  or  process  of  a  State,  and  rescue 
offenders  from  the  penalty  for  offences  against   those   laws. 
But  did  not  Mr.  Attorney  see,  Mr.  V.  would  ask,  that  the  very 
question  to   be  argued  was,  whether  the   acts  done   by  the 
Marshals  were,  under  the  circumstances,  an  offence  against  the 
laws  of  the  State?      If  they  were,  then  this  Court  had  no 
power,  by  habeas  corpus  or  otherwise,  to   shield  them  from 
punishment.     But  let  that  question  be  tested.     Prima  facie, 
every  homicide   is   murder  (Wright's  Rep.   75);  the  statute 
against  murder  is  general ;  it  contains  no  excepted  cases.     How, 
then,  does  the  sheriff,  who  hangs  a  man  by  the  neck  till  dead, 
escape  ?     Because  the  same  statute-book  commands  that  he  shall 
do  it ;  and  the  different  statutes  and  sections  being  construed 
together,  it  appears  to  be  lawful.     Again,  the  statute  against 
homicide  is  general.     How,  therefore,  is  the  Warden  of  the 
Penitentiary  justified  who  takes  the  life  of  a  prisoner  while 
attempting  to  escape  ?     Because  the  law  sanctions  it.     Or  how 
comes  the  State  officer  to  stand  acquit  who  in  executing  process 
is  obliged  from  necessity  to  kill  the  party  resisting  ?     Because 
the  law  allows  it.     It  is,  therefore,  not  every  beating  that  is 
an  assault  and  battery,  nor  every  killing  that  is  murder,  nor 
every  shooting  with  intent  to  kill  that  is  an  offence  against  the 
penal  laws  of  the  State.     Now,  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  is  a  part  of  the  Constitution  of  Ohio ;  the  law  of  1850, 
under  which  the  process  issued  to  the  Marshals  in  this  case,  is 
a  part  of  the  laws  of  Ohio,  and  must  be  taken  and  construed 
together  with  the  statutes  against  assault  and  shooting  with 


90  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

intent  to  kill.  The  Constitution  authorised  the  law,  and  the 
law  the  process,  and  the  process  justified  the  officer  in  using  all 
the  force  necessary  to  execute  it.  If  he  used  this  force  and  no 
more,  then  what  he  did,  though  there  were  beating  and  shoot 
ing,  was  no  offence  against  the  penal  laws  of  Ohio.  And  all 
that  the  Court  proposes  to  do  here  is  to  inquire  into  the  truth 

of  these  matters." 

i 

After  briefly  summing  up  the  points  made  in  the  case,  Mr. 
Vallandigham  then  concluded  as  follows  : — 

"  I  have  now,  may  it  please  your  Honor,  finished  what  I 
have  to  say  upon  the  law  and  the  facts  of  the  case.  Its  mag 
nitude,  the  deep  public  interest  which  it  everywhere  excites, 
and  the  momentous  results  which,  with  the  certainty  of  the 
grave,  must  follow  from  a  failure  by  the  Judiciary  or  the  Exe 
cutive  of  the  Union  to  assert  and  maintain  the  principles  and 
the  rights  which  are  involved  in  it,  are  my  apology  for  having 
so  long  detained  the  Court  in  this  argument.  I  concur  with 
the  Attorney-General  in  all  that  he  has  said  of  the  vast  im 
portance  of  the  case  now  and  hereafter;  and  the  more  especially 
if  the  menaces  which  he,  the  law-officer  of  the  State  and  her 
representative  in  this  forum,  has  seen  fit  to  more  than  insinuate 
in  case  of  an  adverse  decision  by  this  tribunal,  are,  in  the  hour 
of  madness,  to  be  carried  out  by  her  authorities  as  they  are 
now  constituted.  Never  before  has  any  part  of  the  Judiciary 
of  the  United  States  been  called  upon  in  the  same  way  and  to 
the  same  extent  to  affirm  and  to  vindicate  these  rights  and 
principles,  so  essential  to  the  peace  and  harmony  and  the  ex 
istence  of  the  beautiful  complex  system  of  government  under 
which  for  so  many  years  we  have  flourished  and  grown  great 
and  happy  as  a  people.  In  another  forum  and  in  other  forms 
they  have,  indeed,  been  repeatedly  and  vehemently  agitated  and 
discussed.  Similar  cases .  have  also  now  and  then  arisen  re 
cently  in  your  courts,  wherein  these  same  doctrines  have  been 
brought  incidentally  into  debate ;  but  never  before  have  they 
been  presented  in  the  case  of  direct  and  absolute  antagonism 
between  the  laws,  process  and  authority  of  a  State  and  of  the 
United  States.  The  insurgents  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  in 
the  last  century,  did  not  assume  to  act  under  any  law  of  that 
commonwealth,  and  found  no  countenance  or  support  from  any 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  91 

other  legally  constituted  authorities.  No  State  in  the  Union 
gave  aid  or  comfort  to  the  conspiracy  of  Aaron  Burr,  nor  was 
the  murder  of  Gorsuch  and  the  rescue  of  his  slaves  pretended 
to  have  been  done  under  any  statute  or  process  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania.  Neither  did  that  ancient  and  loyal  common 
wealth,  in  the  yet  later  cases  from  the  county  of  Luzerne,  re 
quire  or  permit  her  Attorney-General  or  any  of  his  deputies 
to  appear  in  her  behalf.  The  rescue  of  Crafts,  and  the  at 
tempted  rescue  of  Sims  and  of  Burns,  all  occurred  before  the 
age  of  Personal  Liberty  Bills  and  statutes  of  treason,  miss- 
called  Acts  of  Habeas  Corpus ;  and  the  Rosetta  and  Gaines 
cases  both  were  decided  before  the  capitol  and  the  legislative 
halls  of  Ohio  were  prostituted  to  the  wicked  and  incendiary 
purposes  of  domestic  treason  and  discord.  State  Judges  and 
courts  have,  indeed,  before  this,  now  and  then  called  upon 
officers  of  the  United  States  to  appear  at  their  bar,  bringing 
with  them  the  prisoners  held  in  custody ;  and,  in  one  instance, 
the  Supreme  Court  of  a  State,  and  in  another  a  tribunal  of  this 
city  certainly  not  the  highest  in  rank  and  dignity,  and  a  Judge 
bearing  a  name  not  the  most  honored  in  military  annals,  as 
sumed  to  overrule  the  Congress,  the  Executive,  the  inferior 
courts  of  the  Union,  the  highest  judicial  tribunals  of  most  of 
the  States  and  the  most  respectable  of  the  States,  and  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  pronounce  the  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Act  of  1850  unconstitutional,  null  and  void.  But 
these  things  were  done  as  in  the  green  tree ;  these  were  the 
pioneers,  the  advance  guard  of  the  army  of  sedition  and  civil 
discord. 

"  Other  States  also  have,  indeed,  enacted  what,  in  the  hour 
of  madness  and  folly  which  confounds  all  distinctions  and  mis 
applies  all  names,  they  have  chosen  to  call  Personal  Liberty  Bills, 
organizing  resistance  to  the  authority  and  process  of  the  courts 
of  the  Union.  Instead  of  the  bold  and  manly  nullification  of 
South  Carolina,  where  resistance  to  what  she  deemed  and  de 
clared  unconstitutional  legislation  put  on  the  form  and  assumed 
the  virtues  and  the  heroism  of  patriotism,  New  England  set  the 
example,  and  we  have  followed  it,  of  instituting  the  petit  treason 
of  a  small  and  contemptible  warfare  of  process  of  writs  and 
of  counter-writs — a  war  not  of  soldiers  and  artillery,  with  the 
pomp  and  circumstance  of  ordinary  warfare,  but  of  sheriffs  and 
constables  and  bum-bailiffs,  and  Justices  of  Peace  and  probate 


92  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

judges,  of  marshals  and  deputy-marshals;  a  war  of  dirk- 
knives  and  single-barreled  pistols  and  revolving  six-shooting 
pistols,  with  or  without  powder  and  caps  and  ball ;  a  warfare 
in  which,  just  the  reverse  of  what  happened  at  the  battle  of 
Pavia,  nothing  is  lost  except  honor.  It  is  easy,  indeed,  to  see, 
and  melancholy  to  reflect,  that  this  small  and  contemptible 
warfare  of  process  must  soon  bring  us  to  the  sterner  conflicts 
of  regular  and  organized  military  array,  when  the  armies  of  the 
State  and  of  the  United  States  shall  meet  in  deadly  and  most 
bloody  and  most  disastrous  battle.  We  see  now  and  hear  but 
the  beginning  of  the  end.  In  other  States,  far  removed  from 
the  mysterious  line  or  parallel  which  separates  the  slave  and 
the  free  States,  where  this  insane  and  belligerent  legislation 
prevailed,  no  case,  happily,  of  collision  has  as  yet  occurred.  But 
to  us  here  in  Ohio,  most  unfortunately,  it  has  been  reserved — 
as  was  and  is  inevitable  from  our  position  geographically, 
bordering  nearly  five  hundred  miles  on  the  slaveholding  States 
of  Virginia  and  Kentucky — to  exhibit  the  first  example  of 
that  conflict  of  law  and  authority  which  the  miscalled  Habeas 
Corpus  Act  of  1856  has  rendered  inevitable.  Here,  just  before 
and  in  the  midst  of  us,  behold  the  first  fruits  of  this  pernicious 
and  baleful  legislation.  It  was  saicf  the  other  day  .that  for 
more  than  forty  years,  and  until  the  nullification  ordinance  and 
act  of  South  Carolina,  no  power  to  issue  writs  of  habeas  corpus, 
in  cases  such  as  this  is,  was  conferred  upon  the  Judges  of  the 
Federal  Courts,  and  that  for  some  years  afterward  it  lay  dor 
mant  and  unexercised.  Very  true,  very  true;  but  legislation 
is  always  the  offspring  of  the  general  or  the  special  and  tempo 
rary  circumstances  and  necessities  which  surround  us. 

"  For  sixty-eight  years,  also,  the  people  of  Ohio  lived  hap 
pily,  freely,  prosperously,  and  in  neighborly  intercourse  with 
her  sister  States  and  Territories.  Without  slavery  in  her  own 
limits,  she  yet  had  no  quarrel  and  waged  no  war  with  those 
who  had.  Slaves  repeatedly  escaped  into  her  territory,  and 
were  always  peaceably  and  quietly,  and  oftentimes  without 
officer  or  warrant,  recaptured  and  remanded.  Ohio  herself  not 
many  years  ago,  as  I  have  shown,  volunteered  to  enact  a 
'  fugitive-slave  law/  not  less  stringent,  and  certainly  far  more 
odious  than  the  now  accursed  Act  of  1850.  But  times  have 
changed,  and  we  are  changed  with  them.  Men,  wise  above 
what  is  written  —  wiser  than  the  fathers ;  men  of  large  ca- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  93 

pacity  and  a  wisdom  and  sagacity  more  than  ordinary,  more 
than  human  —  or,  of  intellects  narrowed  and  beclouded  by 
ignorance,  bigotry  and  fanaticism,  or  seduced  by  a  corrupt, 
wicked  and  depraved  ambition,  have  discovered  that  the  Con 
stitution  is  all  wrong,  and  its  compacts  all  wrong,  or  rather 
that  there  is  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution,  and  that  dis 
cord  is  piety  and  sedition  patriotism.  They  have  resolved  to 
annul  and  set  at  naught  an  important  and  most  essential  part 
of  the  Constitution  and  of  its  compacts,  and  to  compel  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  succumb  to  their  resolves, 
or  to  bring  the  authorities  of  the  State  and  of  the  Union  into 
deadly  and  most  destructive  conflict.  This  was  the  spirit  which 
dictated  the  statute — the  Personal  Liberty  Bill  —  the  so-called 
Habeas  Corpus  Act  of  1 8  56 .  There  was  no  pretence  of  necessity 
for  its  enactment  by  reason  of  anything  occurring  in  the  ordi 
nary  administration  of  justice  by  the  courts  of  the  State.  No 
ministerial  officer  of  the  Territory  or  State  of  Ohio  had  ever, 
in  any  one  single  instance  during  a  period  of  sixty-eight  years, 
refused  to  obey  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  But  very  recently  a 
Marshal  of  the  United  States  had  refused  obedience  to  the  order 
of  a  State  Court  in  such  a  proceeding ;  and  that  most  eminent 
and  upright  Judge  who  for  so  many  years  has  adorned  the 
Supreme  Bench  of  the  Union — and  of  whom  I  may  say,  as  Mr. 
Webster  said  of  John  Jay,  when  the  spotless  ermine  of  the 
judicial  robe  fell  upon  him  it  touched  nothing  not  as  spotless  as 
itself — had  justified  him  in  the  refusal  and  discharged  him 
from  confinement  by  order  of  the  State  Judge.  And,  more 
over,  a  second  time  in  a  like  case,  the  same  marshal  had  declined 
submission  to  an  order  by  another  Court  of  this  city  —  a  Court 
of  Probate,  appointed  to  administer  upon  the  goods  and  chattels 
of  dead  men — requiring  him  to  release  his  prisoners,  because 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  under  which  he  held  them  in  custody, 
was  unconstitutional  and  void ;  and  again  had  been  sustained 
in  another  forum  and  by  another  Judge,  of  whom  I  may  not 
now  speak  in  fitting  terms  of  commendation  and  respect. 

"Thus  the  firmness  and  integrity  of  the  judiciary  of  the 
United  States  had  so  far  triumphed  in  the  conflict,  and  saved 
the  laws,  process  and  authority  of  the  Union  from  violation 
and  disgrace.  The  bulwark  of  the  Constitution  remained  im 
pregnable.  Possession  was  found  full  nine  points  in  the  law. 
Certainly,  therefore,  if  possession  could  be  had,  in  the  first  in- 


94  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

stance,  of  the  bodies  of  the  fugitives  or  others  in  custody,  the 
great  end  of  obstructing  and  defeating  the  constitutional  pro 
vision  for  the  reclamation  of  escaping  slaves,  and  the  Act  in 
pursuance  of  it,  would  be  attained.  And,  accordingly,  as  I  have 
already  established,  for  the  first  time  within  the  history  of  this 
State,  or  indeed  of  any  other  State,  the  writ  of  personal  re 
plevin  in  the  case  of  prisoners  held  under  judicial  process,  was 
introduced  into  our  legislation,  and  one  officer  commanded  to 
take  by  force  from  another  officer  the  prisoners  held  in  his 
custody.  Collision  among  State  officers  was  not  expected,  and 
indeed  could  not  well  arise.  But  in  the  case  of  independent 
sovereignties  exercising  authority  and  executing  independent 
process  within  the  same  territory,  it  was  expected  and  intended 

—  I  stand  justified  by  the  facts  in  affirming  it  —  that  a  direct 
and  absolute  conflict  would  and  should  occur.     To  this  State 
of  Ohio,  therefore,  I  am  sorry  to  say  —  in  this  District  of  the 
State  —  and  to  the  county  officers  of  Clark,  Green,  and  Cham 
paign,  it  has  in  an  evil  hour  been  allotted  to  exhibit  the  first 
example  of  the  collision  which  was  inevitable  between  the  two 
governments  to  which,  in  equal  right  though  unequal  degree, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people  of  this  State  has  been  committed. 
The  case  has  arisen,  the  direct  issue  has  been  presented,  and  it 
must  be  met.     It  is  a  question  of  power  between  these  two 
depositaries  of  popular  sovereignty.     I  repeat  it,  a  question  of 
power,  not  of  right.     When  South  Carolina  undertook  to  nul 
lify  a  statute  of  Congress,  and  to  set  herself  in  array  against 
the  Government  of  the  Union,  she  made  it  a  question  of  con 
stitutional  right.     Recognising  her  duty  to  obey  the  Constitu 
tion  and  all  laws  in  pursuance  of  it,  no  matter  how  odious  or 
unjust,  she  denied  the  power  of  Congress  to  enact  the  statute. 
But  the  learned  doctors  and  professors  of  modern  nullification 

—  the  whole  collegia  ambubaiarum  et  pharmacopolce  —  forced 
to  admit  the  constitutionality  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  or  at 
least  the  right  of  the  people  and  States  of  the  South,  under  the 
Constitution,  to  demand  of  us  the  reclamation  of  their  fugitives, 
appeal  to  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution,  and  denounce 
the  rendition  of  fugitives  from  slavery,   under  any  law   or 
under  any  constitution,  as  against  this  higher  law  of  conscience, 
and  therefore  null  and  void.     Why  have  they  who  control  just 
now  the  legislation  of  the  State,  sought  to  bring  about  this 
conflict  between  the  courts  and  ministerial  officers  of  the  two 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM,  95 

governments,  and  by  State  statutes  and  State  process,  through 
the  machinery  of  writs  of  habeas  corpus  °nd  replevin,  by 
sheriffs,  and  constables,  and  probate  judges,  and  justices  of  the 
peace,  to  harass,  impede  and  obstruct  or  prevent  the  execution 
of  this  law?  What  argument  have  we  heard  here  in  this 
court  ?  Not  that  the  Act  is  unconstitutional.  If  it  were,  the 
process  held  by  these  deputies  was  void  process,  and  they  were 
engaged  in  the  commission  of  an  illegal  act.  That  would  have 
been  a  conclusive  answer  to  this  whole  proceeding.  But  it  has 
not  been  alleged.  That  question  is  settled  —  absolutely  put  at 
rest.  Mr.  Webster  said,  six  years  ago,  that  no  '  respectable 
lawyer '  would  maintain  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  Fug 
itive  Slave  Act  of  1850.  I  am  confident  your  Honor  would 
not  have  heard  an  argument  upon  the  question.  No;  we  have 
been  told  that  the  law  is  harsh,  that  it  is  cruel  and  unjust, 
that  it  is  odious  and  distasteful  to  the  people.  This  is  the 
apology  for  personal  liberty  bills  and  acts  of  habeas  corpus,  so- 
called,  and  all  the  other  hindrances  and  obstructions  which  have 
been  interposed  to  its  execution.  For  this  cause,  and  this  cause 
only,  it  has  been  declared  —  not  here,  certainly,  but  elsewhere  — 
that  it  cannot  and  shall  not  be  put  in  force,  at  least  within  the 
'sovereign  States'  of  Clark,  Green,  and  Champaign;  that 
wheresoever  else  it  may  be  obeyed,  there  it  is  and  shall  remain 
a  dead  letter  forever.  Upon  pretexts  and  by  appeals  and 
seditious  declarations  such  as  these  are,  the  people,  or  a  part 
of  the  people  —  I  trust  a  very  small  part,  but  enough,  neverthe 
less,  to  do,  or  to  threaten,  great  mischief —  have  been  stirred  up 
to  the  madness  and  folly  of  setting  themselves  in  array  against 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  under  the  color  and 
the  forms  of  State  statutes  and  State  process,  of  resisting  the 
execution  of  its  laws  and  the  process  of  its  courts,  and  thus  of 
precipitating  upon  us  the  crisis  which  wicked  and  designing 
men  have  so  long  labored  to  bring  about. 

"I  have  no  instruction,  may  it  please  your  Honor,  here, 
before  this  tribunal,  to  discuss  the  question  whether  the  Act  of 
1 8 50  be  j ustly  obnoxious  to  these  reproaches  or  not.  With  that 
question  this  Court  has  no  concern.  Your  Honor,  I  am  sure,  is 
no  authorised  expounder  of  the  '  higher  law/  as  it  is  taught  in 
this  day,  and  still  less  sit  here  to  enforce  it.  But  I  may  be 
permitted  to  suggest  that  in  its  present  form,  substantially,  it 
has  been  the  law  of  the  land  for  more  than  sixty  years ;  that  by 


96  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

nearly  one-half  of  the  States  of  this  Union  it  is  regarded  as  both 
reasonable  and  just ;  by  a  large  portion  of  the  people  of  all  the 
States  as  alike  necessary  and  proper,  and  by  all  the  States, 
except  one,  and  by  all  ' respectable  lawyers7  (I  quote  the  words 
of  Mr.  Webster :  non  meus  hie  sermo  est ;  )ie  is  responsible  for 
it,  not  I )  as  in  strict  conformity  with  the  Constitution  of  the 
Union.  If  it  be  indeed  harsh,  cruel  and  unjust,  it  is  not  be 
cause  it  provides  means  improper  or  more  than  adequate  to  attain 
its  end  —  they  have  indeed  proved  scarce  sufficient  as  they  are 
—  but  because  it  remands  the  '  panting  fugitive' to  slavery. 
'  The  head  and  front  of  its  offending  hath  this  extent :  no  more.7 
If  so,  then  it  is  the  Constitution  which  is  harsh,  cruel  and  unjust. 
It  is  the  Constitution  which  is  odious  and  distateful  to  that  por 
tion  of  the  people  of  this  State  who  entertain  these  sentiments, 
and  who  make  them  the  reason  or  the  pretext  for  their  resistance 
to  the  process  and  authority  of  the  United  States.  It  is  the 
Constitution  which  must  be  abrogated  or  nullified,  and  they 
who  execute  or  who  would  maintain  and  defend  it,  made  odious 
and  set  at  defiance. 

"  But  these  are  doctrines  and  notions  which  find  no  countenance 
or  support  within  these  walls.  Here  at  least  they  may  not, 
and  will  not,  be  hearkened  to  with  patience.  I  have  a  right, 
then,  to  repeat  again  that  this  is  solely  a  question  of  power 
between  the  two  governments.  And  it  is  fortunate  perhaps 
for  us  that  this  issue  is  thus  clearly  and  directly  presented  here, 
and  in  this  case.  It  is  here,  and  here  in  all  its  breadth  and 
fulness  and  extent  —  a  direct  and  inevitable  conflict  of  law  and 
process  between  the  State  and  the  United  States.  It  is  here,  the 
first,  the  natural,  the  necessary  fruits  of  the  insane  and  aggressive 
legislation  which  for  some  years  has  prevailed  in  several  of  the 
States  of  this  Union — itself  both  the  effect  and  the  cause,  the  off 
spring  and  the  parent  of  the  violent  and  highly  excited  public 
sentiment  which  has  already  resulted,  first,  in  this  resistance  to 
the  process  of  your  courts,  and  finally  in  the  melancholy  and  mur 
derous  tragedy  of  the  other  day.  The  exigence  of  the  writ  to 
the  marshals  commanded  them,  to  take  and  bring  the  bodies 
of  their  prisoners  to  Cincinnati,  before  a  Commissioner  of  the 
United  States.  The  exigence  of  the  writ  to  the  sheriff  com 
manded  him  to  take  these  same  prisoners  from  the  custody  of 
the  marshals,  and  carry  them  to  Urbana  before  a  State  Judge. 
Both  could  not  be  obeyed.  Resistance  and  collision  were 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  97 

inevitable,  and  they  followed,  aggravated  and  embittered  ex 
ceedingly  by  the  violent  and  fanatical  hostile  sentiments  of  those 
who  pursued  and  denounced  the  marshals  as  ruffians,  while  they 
encouraged  and  applauded  the  prisoners  as  the  martyrs  of 
liberty. 

"  The  case  is  here,  and  to  the  marshals  concerned  it  is  of  the 
last  and  most  vital  importance.  Their  liberties  are  at  stake. 
If  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  powerless  or  is  un 
willing  to  protect  them  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  which  it 
has  imposed  upon  them,  it  is  easy  to  see  what  the  result  of  a 
trial  must  be  in  the  midst  of  the  deep  excitement  which  pre 
vails  in  the  counties  where  these  acts  were  done,  stimulated 
as  that  excitement  has  been  day  by  day  through  the  public 
press,  in  public  assemblies,  and  upon  the  public  highways,  bv 
the  most  wilful  and  reckless  misrepresentation  of  facts,  and 
the  most  violent  denunciation  of  these  deputies  as  pirates  and 
outlaws.  In  ordinary  times  and  upon  other  subjects  the 
people  of  the  counties  concerned  are  no  doubt  as  honest,  as  in 
telligent,  as  upright  as  the  people  of  any  other  counties.  But 
in  this  case  and  upon  the  question  involved  in  it,  they  have 
been  wrought  up  to  madness  and  folly.  In  resisting  the  exe 
cution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  they  think  they  do  God's 
service.  With  them,  or  rather  with  the  honest  but  misguided 
portion  of  them,  it  is  a  sort  of  superstition  —  a  species  of  re 
ligious  fanaticism  —  a  motive  and  an  element  in  all  popular 
commotions,  as  all  history  attests,  the  most  powerful  and  con 
trolling.  There  are,  doubtless,  hundreds  among  them,  as 
among  others  elsewhere,  who  in  the  crusade  against  this  law 
of  the  United  States,  are  ready  to  adopt  and  repeat  the  battle- 
cry  of  the  Saracens,  '  Paradise  is  before  us  and  hell-fire  at  our 
backs  ! '  In  such  a  state  of  public  sentiment  I  have  no  con 
fidence  in  any  class  of  men.  It  is  this  self-same  spirit  which 
in  every  age  has  lighted  up  the  fires  of  persecution,  and  put 
thousands  to  death  with  every  aggravation  of  torture  and 
cruelty.  It  is  this  spirit — the  true  spirit  of  the  '  higher  law '  — 
which  sets  at  defiance  every  claim  of  justice,  every  call  of  hu 
manity,  every  law  of  God,  of  nature  and  of  man.  In  the  ninth 
century,  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  Mohammedan  faith,  other 
religions  being  also  tolerated,  the  Fire-worshippers  of  Persia 
possessed  a  temple  in  the  city  of  Herat,  which  in  the  midst  of 
a  religious  tumult  was  attacked  and  razed  to  the  ground,  and 


98  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQEAM. 

a  mosque  erected  upon  the  site  where  it  had  stood.  The  Magi 
appealed  for  justice  and  restitution  to  the  Caliph ;  but  four 
thousand  Mohammedan  citizens  of  Herat,  of  a  grave  character 
and  mature  age,  deliberately  and  unanimously  swore  that  the 
idolatrous  temple  never  had  existed.  Human  nature  is  the 
same  in  every  age.  The  people  of  the  times  and  the  country 
we  live  in  are  no  better  by  nature  than  the  people  of  any  other 
country  or  any  other  period  of  the  world's  history.  The  people 
of  the  counties  of  Clark,  Green,  and  Champaign,  though  no 
worse,  are  no  better  either  than  the  people  of  other  counties 
and  States  of  this  Union ;  and  pardon  me,  gentlemen,  they 
have  already  prejudged  this  case  and  pronounced  upon  the 
guilt  of  these  deputies. 

"  But  great,  may  it  please  your  Honor,  as  their  stake  in  this 
question  may  be  personally,  it  is  not  they  who  are  chiefly  con 
cerned.  The  whole  people  of  the  District,  of  the  State,  of  the 
United  States,  of  other  nations,  and  of  the  ages  which  shall  suc 
ceed  the  age  we  live  in,  are  alike  and  most  profoundly  in 
terested  in  the  result.  It  is  a  question  of  the  peace  and  the  per 
petuity  of  our  Government,  and  with  it  of  free  government  all 
over  the  globe,  and  in  all  coming  time.  If  any  one  State  of 
this  Union  may  disregard  or  annul  any  one  law  in  pursuance 
of  it,  because  in  its  judgment  it  is  harsh,  cruel  and  unjust,  any 
other  State  may,  in  like  manner  and  upon  like  pretexts,  dis 
obey  and  set  at  naught  any  other  part  of  this  same  Constitution, 
or  any  other  law  under  it.  If  the  people  or  part  of  the 
people  of  Ohio  may  prohibit  or  practically  prevent  the  execu 
tion  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  within  her  limits,  the  people,  or 
a  part  of  them,  of  South  Carolina,  may  also  annul  and  disobey 
the  Acts  to  abolish  the  slave  trade ;  and  by  State  statutes  and 
State  process,  by  habeas  corpus  and  replevin,  through  her  min 
isterial  officers  and  her  courts,  vex,  harass,  and  finally  beat 
down  and  render  powerless  the  judiciary  of  the  Union.  How 
long,  then,  can  the  governments  of  either  the  States  or  the 
United  States  endure;  and  what,  above  all,  are  they  worth 
while  they  do  endure?  The  end  of  these  things  is  death. 

"  But  I  am  confident  that  this  Court  is  prepared,  that  the 
whole  Government  of  the  United  States  is  prepared,  to  meet 
this  issue  just  as  it  is  presented.  And  I  tell  Mr.  Attorney- 
General,  and  through  him  the  Executive  of  the  State,  whose 
vain  defiance  he  has  this  day  borne  here  to  this  presence,  that 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  99 

it  is  not  to  be  awed  by  threats,  nor  to  be  put  down  by  denun 
ciation,  nor  to  be  turned  aside  from  its  firm  purpose  to  enforce 
the  laws  and  the  process  of  its  courts,  in  any  event  and  at  all 
hazards,  and  without  respect  to  persons  or  to  States,  whether 
those  States  be  Rhode  Island  or  Ohio.  And  whensoever  this 
Court,  or  any  other  Court  of  the  Union,  shall  have  judicially 
ascertained  and  declared  the  rights  and  powers  of  the  Govern 
ment  to  execute  its  laws  and  its  process  in  any  pending  case, 
I  know  that  the  Executive  of  the  Union  stands  prepared, 
faithfully,  fearlessly  and  sternly,  if  need  be,  and  by  the  whole 
power  of  the  Government,  to  preserve,  protect  and  defend  the 
Constitution  from  all  the  assaults  of  its  enemies." 


We  have  presented  a  considerable  portion  of  this  speech 
because  it  affords  a  clear  view  of  the  interesting  questions  in 
volved  in  the  case,  and  gives  some  idea  of  the  sectional  feeling 
and  disregard  for  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  existed 
among  the  Abolitionists  at  that  time  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 
There  seemed  serious  danger  of  an  actual  collision  with  the 
General  Government;  and  it  is  said  that  Governor  Chase  con 
sulted  with  officers  of  the  State  Militia  upon  the  subject,  and 
actually  made  arrangements  for  armed  hostility.  The  matter 
was  also  discussed  in  President  Buchanan's  cabinet,  and  it  was 
determined  by  the  President  that  the  authority  and  dignity 
of  the  Government  should  be  maintained  at  all  hazards.  The 
storm  however  blew  over,  the  Deputy  Marshals  were  discharged 
by  order  of  the  Court,  and  were  not  again  molested ;  but  the 
Abolitionists  succeeded  in  their  principal  object,  for  the  negroes 
were  never  re-captured. 

On  the  first  of  December,  1857,  Mr.  Vallandigham,  relin 
quishing  for  a  timewds  legal  practice,  now  large  and  lucrative, 
repaired  to  Washington  to  prosecute  the  contest  for  his  seat  in 
Congress.  There  he  remained  nearly  six  months,  his  patience 


100  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  temper  severely  tried  by  the  long  delay.  This  delay  was 
occasioned  by  the  division  which  had  arisen  in  the  Democratic 
party  upon  the  Lecompton  question.  For  months  this  question 
agitated  Congress  and  the  country,  and  on  account  of  the  com 
plications  arising  from  its  discussion,  the  contested  election 
case  was  delayed  and  the  result  for  a  long  time  doubtful. 
When  the  case  came  up  before  the  Committee  of  Elections, 
Mr.  Vallandigham  was  represented  by  Col.  Geo.  W.  McCook. 
He  also  filed  a  very  elaborately  prepared  brief,  and  made  a 
speech  before  Congress  in  support  of  his  claims  which  was 
regarded  as  very  able.  The  majority  report  of  the  Committee 
drawn  up  by  the  Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  of  Mississippi,  was  in 
favor  of  the  contestant,  and  made  the  following  summary  of 
the  result : — 


The  whole  number  of  votes  cast  for  Mr.  Vallandigham,  as  appears 

by  the  original  returns, 9,319 

To  this  add  three  votes  improperly  rejected, 3 

9,322 
Deduct  for  illegal  votes  cast  for  Mr.  Vallandigham 15 

Correct  vote 9,307 

The  whole  number  of  votes  cast  for  Mr.  Campbell,  as  appears  by 

the  original  returns, ' 9,338 

Add  one  ballot  improperly  rejected ; 1 

9,339 
Deduct  for  illegal  votes 55 

9,284 
Reaving  a  majority  for  the  contestant  of  23. 

On  the  25th  of  May,  1858,  this  report  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  107  to  100,  and  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  admitted  to 
a  seat  in  Congress  as  the  Representativew>f  the  3d  District 
of  Ohio,  and  was  immediately  sworn  in.  Soon  after,  Congress 
adjourned,  and  he  returned  to  his  home. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  101 

A  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer  presents  the 
following  account  of  the  closing  up  of  this  contested  election 


case  :- 


"  I  have  not  noticed  in  any  Western  paper  an  account  of 
the  closing  up  of  the  contested  election  case  of  Yallandigham 
vs.  Campbell.  This  case  has  attracted  attention  from  all  parts 
of  the  country,  and  a  detail  of  its  finale  may  be  interesting  to 
your  readers. 

"On  Thursday,  the  20th  inst.,  Mr.  Harris,  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Elections,  reported  from  the  Committee  that 
the  Minnesota  members  were  entitled  to  be  sworn  in,  reserving 
the  right  to  contest  in  the  future.  Before  this,  when  the 
credentials  were  first  presented,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Sherman,  of 
Ohio,  and  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  their  being  sworn  in 
before  the  Yallandigham  and  Campbell  case  should  come  up, 
the  credentials  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Elections. 

"They  were  tied  up  there  a  week  for  the  same  purpose,  and 
when  reported  back  they  desired  more  time,  under  the  pretence 
of  printing  the  reports ;  and  when  the  previous  question  was  sus 
tained  on  the  passage  of  the  resolutions  admitting  them,  the 
Eepublicans  then  began  to  '  filibuster/  by  a  series  of  dilatory  and 
embarrassing  motions,  trying  to  force  a  postponement  of  the  ad 
mission,  so  as  to  try  to  slip  the  Ohio  case  in  ahead ;  and  this 
system  of  tactics  was  kept  up  from  Thursday  until  Saturday  at 
a  great  expense,  and  to  the  detriment  of  the  public  business  at 
the  close  of  the  session.  But  they  were  defeated,  and  the 
Minnesota  members  came  in. 

"However,  on  the  next  Tuesday,  when  the  Ohio  case  came 
up  for  the  vote,  and  it  became  evident  that  Mr.  Yallandigham 
would  get  the  seat,  they  commenced  again,  under  the  lead  of 
Mr.  Sherman,  to  ( filibuster/  but  finding  the  temper  of  the 
House  against  it,  they  subsided,  and  Mr.  V.  was  at  once  de 
clared  to  have  been  duly  elected,  and  was  sworn  in. 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  had  many  warm  friends  and  supporters 
in  the  Senate  and  House  throughout  the  session;  among  them 
Stevenson,  Phillips,  and  Boyce,  of  the  Committee  on  Elections, 
and  Stephens,  Houston,  Faulkner,  John  Cochran,  Hughes,  J. 
Glancy  Jones,  Bocock,  and  others.  But  he  is  especially  in 
debted,  I  think,  to  Mr.  Lamar,  of  Mississippi,  whose  able  re 
port  was  very  effective  in  sustaining  the  case,  and  whose 


102  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    YALLANDIGHAM, 

earnest,  vigorous,  ready  and  conclusive  replies,  in  a  running 
and  skirmishing  debate  of  several  hours,  demonstrated  the  fact 
that  he  is  not  only  a  scholar  and  a  thinker,  but  a  keen,  ready 
and  acute  debater,  and  destined  to  become  a  leader  in  the  House. 
His  speech  was  a  success  in  that  sort  of  debate  which  is  more 
valuable  in  a  deliberative  assembly  than  a  thousand  set  speeches 
and  essays. 

"  The  speech  of  Mr.  Stevenson  of  Kentucky  was  also  a  very 
able  argument,  as  was  to  be  expected  of  one  whose  reputation  as 
a  sound  lawyer  stands  deservedly  high  here  and  at  home. 

"  Many  encomiums  were  made  upon  the  argument  of  Mr. 
Vallancligham.  Mr.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  pronounced  it  the 
best  ( first  effort'  he  ever  heard  in  the  House,  and  Mr. 
Groesbeck  complimented  the  argument  as  evincing  fine  legal 
ability  and  merit.  Mr.  "V.  spoke  in  a  clear,  easy  and  pleasant 
style,  entirely  free  from  affectation,  and  received  close  attention 
from  the  House  and  a  large  crowd  of  spectators  in  the  galleries. 

"Throughout  the  whole  contest  his  fair  and  courteous  con 
duct  and  personal  worth  have  created  for  him  many  warm 
friends,  who,  in  common  with  the  entire  Democratic  side  of  the 
House,  were  rejoiced  at  his  success." 

Shortly  after  his  return  home  he  was  again  announced  as  a 
candidate  for  Congress,  without  the  formality  of  a  convention, 
but  designated  unanimously  by  the  Central  Committees  of  the 
three  counties,  who  acted  in  accordance  with  the  well-known 
wishes  of  the  Democracy  of  the  District ;  and  in  October  was 
re-elected  by  a  majority  of  188  over  Mr.  Campbell,  who  was 
again  his  competitor.  This  election  to  the  36th  Congress,  and 
his  success  a  few  months  before  in  the  contest  for  a  seat  in  the 
35th,  were  highly  gratifying  to  Mr.  Yallandigham.  For 
years  he  had  been  unsuccessful  in  all  his  political  aspirations. 
The  principal  cause  of  this  was  his  stern  opposition  to  slavery 
agitation ;  but  there  were  other  causes.  When  only  twenty  years 
of  age,  and  about  to  enter  upon  his  active  political  career,  he 
remarked  to  his  eldest  brother  that  he  was  determined  to. be  an 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  103 

honest  politician.  His  brother,  though  highly  approving  his 
resolution,  suggested  to  him  that  he  had  a  very  hard  road  be 
fore  him  —  that  in  all  probability  he  would  fail ;  to  which  he 
replied  in  his  earnest  and  emphatic  manner :  —  "  If  I  cannot  suc 
ceed,  pursuing  an  honest  and  upright  course,  /  am  willing  to 
fail"  That  course  he  did  pursue  through  life ;  and  although 
he  did  not  entirely  fail,  though  his  honorable  ambition  was  to 
a  certain  extent  gratified,  he  would  have  been  much  more  suc 
cessful  by  pursuing  a  different  course.  Had  he  been  willing 
to  consult  policy,  to  court  popular  applause,  to  yield  some 
times  that  which  he  believed  to  be  right  to  that  which  appeared 
to  be  expedient,  riches  and  honors  and  offices  would  have 
been  at  his  command.  But  his  unbending  determination  to 
follow  the  course  he  had  originally  marked  out,  and  his  bitter 
hostility  to  Abolitionism,  because  he  saw  from  the  beginning 
that  it  would  ultimately  result  in  civil  war,  and  perhaps  a  dis 
solution  of  the  Union,  were  for  years  an  insurmountable  bar 
rier  to  his  political  advancement.  To  this  he  refers  in  his 
speech  of  January  14,  1863: — "Sir,  I  am  one  of  that  number 
who  have  opposed  Abolitionism,  or  the  political  development 
of  the  Anti-Slavery  sentiment  of  the  North  and  West,  from  the 
beginning.  In  school,  at  college,  at  the  bar,  in  public  as 
semblies,  in  the  Legislature,  in  Congress,  boy  and  man,  as  a 
private  citizen  and  in  public  life,  in  time  of  peace  and  in  time 
of  war,  at  all  times  and  at  every  sacrifice  I  have  fought  against 
it.  It  cost  me  ten  years'  exclusion  from  office  and  honor,  at  that 
period  of  life  when  honors  are  sweetest.  No  matter ;  I  learned 
early  to  do  right  and  to  wait." 

During  the  time  he  was  detained  at  Washington,  awaiting 
the  result  of  his  contest  for  the  seat  in  Congress,  he  passed  but 


104  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

few  idle  moments.  He  constantly  attended  the  sittings  of  the 
House,  and  carefully  studied  the  laws  and  observed  the  usages 
of  parliamentary  bodies ;  and  this  he  continued  to  do  during 
the  session  of  1858-9,  taking  but  little  part  in  the  debates. 
The  natural  result  of  this  was  that  he  became  better  ac 
quainted,  more  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  rules  govern 
ing  the  proceedings  of  deliberative  bodies  than  almost  any  public 
man  of  his  day.  This  fact  was  well  known  and  recognised  in 
the  Thirty-sixth  and  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  so  that  during 
the  session  of  1862,  a  member,  neither  personally  nor  politically 
friendly  to  him,  said : — "  I  am  always  uneasy  when  Yallandig- 
ham  is  out  of  his  seat,  lest  some  mischief  should  be  slipped  in 
contrary  to  rule."  His  knowledge  of  the  rules  of  the  House 
and  his  skill  in  their  application,  and  clear  understanding  of 
parliamentary  law,  were  of  great  value  to  himself  and  his  party 
during  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  when  the  Democracy  was 
so  powerless  for  lack  of  numbers.  Naturally  quick-tempered 
and  impatient,  he  yet  exercised  such  a  restraint  over  himself 
that  these  qualities  were  seldom  exhibited  in  his  congressional 
contests ;  and  his  coolness  and  perfect  self-possession  amid  the 
most  exciting  scenes  and  most  stormy  debates,  surprised  his 
friends,  and  commanded  the  respect  and  even  the  admiration  of 
his  political  foes. 

During  the  session  of  1858-9,  as  we  have  already  remarked, 
Mr.  Yallandigham  did  not  take  a  very  active  part  in  debate ; 
on  two  or  three  occasions,  however,  he  briefly  addressed  the 
House. 

On  the  14th  of  December,  1858,  he  made  a  few  remarks  in 
favor  of  the  resolution  to  impeach  Judge  Watrous,  of  Texas, 
who  was  accused  of  corruption  in  office  for  private  gain.  He 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  105 

drew  the  distinction  between  cases  of  impeachment  in  England 
and  the  United  States.  He  claimed  that  all  analogies  drawn 
from  the  rules  and  practice  governing  impeachments  in  Eng 
land,  tended  only  to  mislead  and  confuse  in  the  consideration 
of  this  case.  In  England  the  punishment  is  the  same  as  upon 
conviction  in  any  other  court,  extending  even  to  the  death 
penalty.  Not  so  under  our  Constitution ;  none  but  civil  officers 
are  subject  to  impeachment  here,  and  the  judgment  —  not  the 
punishment ;  for  that  word  is  not  used  —  extends  no  further 
than  to  removal  from  office.  The  object  of  impeachment  in 
England  is  the  punishment  or  suppression  of  crime ;  in  this 
country,  first,  restraint  upon  public  officers,  and  secondly,  the 
removal  of  such  as  shall  in  any  manner  misdemean.  No  great 
crime  need  be  alleged  to  justify  it  here ;  it  is  sufficient  to  war 
rant  it  that  a  misdemeanor  is  charged. 

"  What  then,"  said  he,  "  is  judicial  misbehavior  or  misde 
meanor  ?  That,  Sir,  depends  wholly  upon  the  standard  which 
you  shall  fix  for  judicial  character  and  conduct.  Mine,  I  con 
fess,  is  the  highest.  I  would  have  both  as  pure  as  the  ( fanned 
snow  that's  bolted  by  the  northern  blasts  twice  o'er,'  and  as 
spotless  as  the  ermine  which  was  once  the  emblem  of  judicial 
purity.  The  integrity  of  the  Judge  ought  to  be  above  suspi 
cion  in  his  great  office.  I  wonld  have  him  the  sanctissimus 
judex  of  the  Romans ;  for  to  the  litigant  in  his  court  he  stands 
in  the  place  of  God.  Save  impeachment,  he  is  subject  to  no 
responsibility  except  an  enlightened  conscience  and  a  religious 
sense  of  duty.  Theoretically,  indeed,  the  judiciary  is  in  every 
country,  to  a  great  extent,  of  necessity  an  arbitrary  power. 
Even  when  hedged  in  by  law,  there  yet  remains  the  vast  field 
of  '  judicial  discretion  ;  and  beyond  all  lies  the  boundless  ocean 
of  the  ' interpretation  of  laws' — the  great  Business  of  the 
Judge.  Sir,  there  are  ten  thousand  ways  in  which  a  corrupt,  a 
weak,  or  a  prejudiced  Judge,  a  Judge  hostile  or  friendly  to  the 
litigant,  or  what  is  more  common  the  lawyer,  may  pervert 
justice,  pollute  its  pure  fountains,  and  do  foul  wrong  in  the 


106  LIFE   OF.    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

cause,  and  yet  none  but  he  who  has  suffered  know  it.  These 
are  the  false  weights  which  it  is  so  easy,  unperceived,  to  throw 
into  the  scales  of  justice.  Add  now  to  all  this  that  the  judi 
cial  power,  like  the  invisible  and  impalpable  air  which  sur 
rounds,  ^penetrates  everywhere  and  affects  every  relation  of 
life ;  that  it  extends  even  to  life  itself,  to  liberty,  to  property 
in  all  its  infinite  complications ;  to  marriage,  divorce,  parent 
age,  master  and  servant,  and  finally  pursues  us  even  after 
death  in  the  distribution  of  estates ;  nay,  that  the  very  monu 
ments  of  the  dead,  the  dull  cold  marble  in  which  they  sleep, 
are  the  subjects  of  its  destroying  or  protecting  hand.  There 
is  no  department  of  the  Government  therefore  which  is  so 
liable  to  abuse  as  the  judiciary ;  but  to  the  honor  of  America 
and  human  nature  be  it  said,  there  is  none  where  so  little 
abuse  prevails.  In  seventy  years  this  is  the  first  example  of 
the  impeachment  of  a  Judge  demanded  because  of  alleged  cor 
ruption  in  office  for  private  gain.  Arbitrary  and  dissolute 
Judges  have  indeed  been  impeached,  though  but  in  two  or 
three  instances  during  that  long  period;  yet  none  for  corrup 
tion.  But  if  infrequent,  it  is  nevertheless  the  most  atrocious, 
and  in  its  consequences  to  the  judiciary  and  to  the  public  the 
most  dangerous  crime  which  a  Judge  can  commit;  for  c there 
is  no  happiness,  there  is  no  liberty,  there  is  no  enjoyment  in 
life,  unless  a  man  can  say  when  he  rises  in  the  morning,  I  shall 
be  subject  to  the  decision  of  no  unjust  Judge  to-day.7 " 

After  remarking  that  the  members  of  the  House  were  not 
the  judges,  the  grand  jurors,  nor  exercising  judicial  power,  nor 
even  acting  in  their  representative  capacity,  but  that  their  pro 
vince  was  simply  to  accuse  and  to  carry  on  the  prosecution 
against  the  party  accused,  he  urged  that  the  House  should  not 
be  slow  to  listen  to  complaints  of  those  who  invoke  its  process 
to  summon  the  accused  into  Court. 

"  If,  indeed,  the  case  be  palpably  frivolous,  or  the  prosecu 
tion  plainly  malicious,  it  is  our  duty  promptly,  if  not  indig 
nantly,  to  refuse.  Can  any  one,  will  any  one  say  that  this  is 
such  a  case?  But  it  has  been  said  that  there  is  too  much  doubt 
and  perplexity  in  this  case,  and  that  therefore  there  ought  to  be 


LIFE   OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  107 

no  impeachment.  Not  so.  We  have  no  power  to  try  and  acquit ; 
and  these  very  perplexities  and  doubts>  if  indeed  any  such 
there  are,  especially  after  the  accused  has  been  heard  fully  in 
his  defence,  are  of  themselves  enough  to  justify  this  House  in 
sending  the  case  to  the  Senate  for  adjudication." 

He  concluded  by  saying : — 

"  For  one,  Mr.  Speaker,  wheresoever  else  in  this  Govern 
ment  corruption  may  come,  or  how  far  soever  elsewhere  it  may 
be  carried,  I  demand  that  there  shall  be  preserved  one  cita 
del  at  least  within  which  public  virtue  may  retire  and  stand 
intrenched." 

On  the  24th  of  February,  1859,  he  addressed  the  House  of 
Representatives  upon  the  Tariff,  attacking  the  Tariff  of  1857. 
He  said  he  was  no  friend  to  the  Act  of  1857;  that  it  was  pecu 
liarly  a  manufacturer's  tariff,  and  a  highly  protective  tariff  too, 
the  most  protective  tariff  ever  enacted.  It  protected  in  two 
modes.  It  admitted  the  raw  material  free,  and  it  lays  also  a  duty 
upon  the  manufactured  article.  He  then  referred  to  the  man 
ner  in  which  the  interests  of  his  constituents  and  the  farmers, 
especially  the  wool-growers  of  Ohio,  had  been  disregarded  in 
the  Act  of  1857. 

"Ohio,"  he  said,  "is  peculiarly  an  agricultural  State.  With 
two  millions  and  a  half  of  people,  she  has  twenty-five  millions 
of  acres :  twenty  millions  occupied  by  or  attached  to  farms  ; 
eleven  millions  actually  cultivated;  four  hundred  thousand 
land-owners;  a  greater  number  of  farms  and  more  tillable  sur 
face,  proportionally,  than  any  State  in  the  Union.  The  cost 
value  of  her  land  is  $600,000,000;  her  agricultural  products 
worth  $132,000,000,  equal  to  the  whole  cotton  crop  of  the 
South  ;  and  her  entire  taxable  property  is  $900,000,000.  She 
is  the  first  wheat,  the  first  wool,  and  the  first  corn-growing 
State;  the  first  wine-producing  also;  and  as  my  Cincinnati 
colleagues  will  attest,  the  foremost  in  the  production  of  swine. 
Her  animal  products  alone  equal  $40,000,000,  and  the  value 


108  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

of  her  butter,  poultry,  and  eggs  would  of  itself  support  half 
the  State  Governments  of  New  England.  And  yet  Ohio  is  a 
part,  and  a  small  part  only,  of  the  great  Mississippi  valley, 
that  most  wonderful  of  all  portions  of  the  globe,  the  very  Gar 
den  of  Eden  in  the  new  creation — in  the  political  apocalypse 
of  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  ( Time's  noblest  empire ! '  the  seat, 
too,  doubtless,  of  empires  older  than  Thebes,  prouder  than 
Tyre,  nobler  than  Nineveh,  but  whose  memorials  have  perished 
even  beyond  ruins  or  tradition ;  yet  destined  once  again  to  be 
come  the  seat  of  an  empire  to  which  you,  ye  proud  men  and 
wise  men  of  the  East,  will  yet  come  bearing  your  frankincense 
and  your  tribute." 

He  then,  by  reference  to  statistics,  exhibited  the  injustice 
done  to  the  wool-growing  and  other  interests  of  the  West  by 
the  Tariff,  and  announced  that  he  was  not  demanding  "  pro 
tection  "  for  his  people,  but  simply  just  and  equal  taxation. 
He  wras  very  often  interrupted  during  his  speech  by  various 
members  who  were  in  favor  of  the  Act  of  1857,  whose  questions 
he  answered  promptly  and  satisfactorily.  He  concluded  by 
giving  notice  that  should  any  tariff  bill  be  reported  during 
the  session,  he  should  move  as  a  substitute  that  the  tariff  of 
1846  be  revived  for  two  years,  so  that  meantime  a  revision  of 
the  Act  of  1857  might  be  had,  adhering  to  tne  principle  of 
ad  valorem,  and  also  to  all  the  other  rules  of  equal  and  just 
taxation. 

At  the  close  of  the  session  Mr.  Vallandigham  returned 
home  and  spent  the  summer  and  fall  in  recreation,  in  attention 
to  professional  business,  and  to  matters  pertaining  to  his  office 
as  a  member  of  Congress.  In  prosecution  of  the  latter,  about 
the  middle  of  October  he  visited  Washington. 

On  Sunday  night,  the  16th  of  October,  1859,  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  Virginia,  the  great  civil  war  between  the  North  and  the 
South  was  commenced.  On  that  night  John  Brown,  attended 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  109 

by  eighteen  of  his  comrades,  crossed  the  Potomac  Eiver  from 
the  Maryland  shore,  and  captured  the  United  States  Arsenal, 
regardless  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  whose  folds  were  supposed 
to  protect  it.  Armed  parties  were  then  sent  out  to  capture 
prominent  slaveholders  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  and  to 
announce  the  glorious  tidings  of  freedom  to  the  slaves.  The 
first  indication  of  their  presence  to  the  citizens  of  the  town  was 
on  the  arrival  of  the  mail  train  going  East,  on  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad,  about  half-past  one  in  the  morning.  When 
the  train  arrived  it  was  stopped  by  a  guard  of  two  men,  well 
armed,  who  had  orders  from  John  Brown  to  let  no  one  pass 
over  the  bridge.  The  first  man  they  killed  was  a  free  negro 
named  Hay  ward,  an  employee :  they  shot  him  just  after  the 
arrival  of  the  train,  and  he  lingered  in  great  agony  until  after 
daylight,  when  he  died.  The  train  of  cars,  after  being  delayed 
some  hours,  was  permitted  to  go  on  its  way,  but  neither  the 
railroad  employees  nor  the  passengers  gathered  any  very  clear 
idea  of  the  cause  of  their  detention.  When  daylight  came, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  village,  as  fast  as  they  appeared  on  the 
street,  were  captured  and  carried  to  the  engine-house,  a  building 
very  near  to  the  Arsenal.  Many  slaves  had  by  this  time  been 
brought  in,  and  pikes  were  placed  in  their  hands  by  the  insur 
gents,  and  they  were  directed  to  strike  for  freedom ;  but  the 
astounded  and  frightened  Africans  gazed  with  dilated  eyes  and 
terror-stricken  countenances  at  the  arms  provided  and  at  the 
stern-looking  body  of  men  who  surrounded  them,  and  showed 
no  disposition  to  take  part  in  the  war  for  "  liberty."  The 
morning  was  far  advanced  before  the  presence  of  the  insurgents 
was  generally  known  in  the  village.  The  news  then  flew  like 
wild-fire,  and  from  all  directions  the  people  flocked  with  arms 


110  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

in  their  bands  to  attack  the  invaders.  Before  night,  all  of 
Brown's  party  who  were  not  in  the  engine-house  with  him, 
except  those  on  the  Maryland  side,  were  either  killed  or 
captured,  and  he  was  surrounded.  Three  citizens  of  Virginia 
were  killed  and  several  wounded  by  Brown's  men  during  the 
course  of  the  day.  Meanwhile  intelligence  of  the  affair  had 
reached  Washington,  and  the  marines  on  duty  at  the  Navy- Yard 
were  ordered  to  the  scene  of  action.  They  were  under  command 
of  Col.  Robert  E.  Lee,  afterwards  the  great  commander  of  the 
Southern  army.  The  marines  arrived  at  Harper's  Ferry  on 
Monday  night.  Early  on  Tuesday  morning  Colonel  Lee  sent 
Lieutenant  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  (subsequently  the  dashing  com 
mander  of  the  cavalry  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia) 
demanding  a  surrender.  Brown  refused  to  surrender,  unless 
upon  his  own  terms.  Immediately  the  order  to  storm  the 
engine-house  was  given,  and  executed  with  promptitude.  One 
marine  was  killed  and  one  wounded  by  the  insurgents  in  the 
assault.  The  contest  was,  however,  quickly  ended.  The 
leader,  John  Brown,  was  cut  down  by  the  sword  of  Lieutenant 
Green,  and  the  insurgents  who  resisted  were  bayoneted.  In 
less  than  thirty-six  hours  the  insurrection  was  put  down ;  but 
during  that  short  time,  John  Brown's  party  killed  five  meii 
and  wounded  nine,  and  lost  themselves  ten  men  killed.  The 
excitement  and  apprehension  in  Virginia  were,  however,  very 
great,  which  afforded  a  portion  of  the  Republican  press  founda 
tion  for  sneering  comment.  Many  remarks  were  made  upon 
what  was ,  termed  the  cowardice  of  old  Virginia,  frightened 
out  of  all  propriety  by  eighteen  men.  Not  quite  three  years 
afterwards,  however,  the  people  of  old  Virginia  considered  them 
selves  avenged  when  nearly  12,000  Northern  troops,  at  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  Ill 

same  place,  well  fortified,  splendidly  armed,  with  seventy-three 
pieces  of  artillery,  surrendered  to  the  Virginian,  Stonewall 
Jackson,  who  had  but  fewmofe  men  and  much  less  artillery — 
surrendered  too  when  100,000  men  were  hastening  to  their 
rescue. 

Mr.  Vallandigham,  who  was  in  Washington  the  night  that 
John  Brown  made  the  attack  upon  Harper's  Ferry,  started  thence 
to  return  home  on  Monday  morning.  When  he  got  to  Baltimore 
he  heard  of  the  insurrection,  as  it  was  termed,  and  was  delayed 
in  that  city  by  the  unsettled  condition  of  affairs  until  Wednes 
day  morning  the  19th  of  October.  He  arrived  at  the  scene  of 
the  late  conflict  about  noon,  and  determined  to  remain  there 
until  the  evening  train.  Filled  with  many  sad  forebodings  as 
to  the  future,  he  wandered  around  the  town,  making  inquiries 
of  citizens  and  soldiers  about  the  late  events.  At  last  he 
returned  towards  the  railroad  bridge,  and  stood  surveying,  in 
deep  reflection,  the  magnificent  scenery  around  him.  As  he 
stood  looking  southward,  his  mind  busy  with  anxious  thoughts, 
if  the  future  had  been  opened  to  his  gaze,  what  a  wonderful 
panorama  of  scenes  to  be  enacted  in  and  around  this  already 
historical  place  would  have  been  presented  to  his  vision! 
Beyond  the  Bolivar  heights  in  front  of  him.  lay  the  beautiful 
Shenandoah  valley.  In  that  beautiful  valley  he  might  have 
beheld  the  chivalrous  Ashby  at  the  head  of  his  brave  troopers, 
careering  upon  his  white  horse,  or  meeting  with  a  calm  smile 
the  fatal  shot  which  stretched  him  on  the  plain ;  then,  too,  the 
thousands  of  blue  coats  faring  southward  under  General  Banks, 
or  meeting  in  dread  battle-array  under  Shields  the  fierce  attack 
of  Stonewall  Jackson  at  Kernstown ;  the  glittering  bayonets  of 
Fremont's  hosts  as  they  impatiently  pushed  forward  to  meet 


112  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

their  fate  at  Cross  Keys ;  the  ragged  legions  of  "  Stonewall "  as 
they  gathered  around  Harper's  Ferry  from  the  South,  already 
having  closed  the  outlets  east,  west,  and  north ;  the  white  plume 
of  Stuart,  and  the  long  line  of  his  gay  cavaliers  returning  after 
the  raid  to  Chambersburg;  the  valiant  Averill  with  his  Northern 
and  Western  saberers,  hard  pressed  but  not  dismayed,  leader  of 
many  a  raid  down  the  valley ;  the  gray  ranks  of  the  South 
surging  over  the  intrench  ments  at  Winchester,  and  the  hurried 
flight  of  Milroy's  forces  ;  the  clanking  of  sabres  and  the  wild 
rush  of  horses  when  the  gallant  Mulligan  fell  foremost  in  the 
fray,  so  clearly  loved  by  his  friends,  so  highly  respected  by  his 
foes;  the  booming  of  artillery  and  the  fierce  yell  of  Sheridan's 
troopers  as  they  charged  at  Opequon  and  sent  Early  whirling 
down  the  valley,  and  "  old  Jubal,"  never  despairing,  in  the 
mists  of  early  morning  bursting  upon  his  unsuspecting  foe,  for 
a  time  carrying  everything  before  his  impetuous  attack ;  the 
famous  day  that  Sheridan's  ride  is  said  to  have  saved  his  army 
from  destruction ;  the  reckless  riders  of  Mosby,  and  the  restless 
rovers  of  McNeill,  moving  stealthily  through  the  shades  of  the 
forest ;  the  beautiful  valley  wet  with  blood,  smoking  with  confla 
gration,  and  swept  by  fire,  sword,  and  famine  as  by  the  besom  of 
destruction,  yet  consecrated  by  glorious  memories,  the  halo  of 
romance  gathering  with  the  years  around  its  mountain  walls, 
every  glen  its  history,  each  cross-road  its  story,  and  every  house 
hold  with  its  precious  relic  of  "  the  times  which  tried  men's  souls." 
Behind  him  lay  South  Mountain,  the  autumn  glories  of  its  num 
berless  forest-trees  painted  in  gorgeous  dyes  by  Nature's  skil 
ful  hand,  awaiting  the  day  when  upon  its  slopes,  amidst  the 
roaring  of  cannon  and  rattle  of  musketry,  the  men  who  wore 
the  blue  and  those  who  wore  the  gray  should  be  laid  low,  "  in 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  113 

one  red  burial  blent."  And  there  too,  but  a  short  distance,  was 
the  pleasant  valley  of  the  Antietam,  whose  bright  waters  were 
yet  to  be  crimsoned  with  brothers'  blood,  and  around  whose 
hills,  now  wreathed  in  the  soft  haze  of  Indian  summer,  the 
darkening  smoke,  the  sulphury  pall  of  battle  soon  should  gather ; 
and  eastward  a  little  way,  the  Monocacy  tripping  lightly  over 
its  pebbly  bed  to  join  the  Potomac,  where  now  indeed  it  was 
"all  quiet" — the  Monocacy  through  whose  mimic  waves 
the  Louisiana  brigade  of  Early's  army  pressed  on  to  victory  in 
the  bright  sunlight  of  July  1864.  As  he  stood  there  in  deep 
reflection,  dreading  the  coming  years  but  little  dreaming  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  mighty  struggle  approaching,  and  hoping 
his  apprehensions  might  prove  false,  Colonel  Eobert  E.  Lee 
came  up,  and  he  was  invited  to  go  and  see  old  John  Brown,  to 
whom,  in  later  days,  John  Wilkes  Booth-  was  the  Southern 
complement. 

So,  in  company  with  Senator  Mason,  Hon.  C.  J.  Faulkner, 
and  General  Jeb  Stuart  (Lieutenant  only  then),  he  entered 
the  room  where  "  Ossawatomie "  Brown  and  his  devoted 
follower  Stevens  lay.  Brown  was  lying  on  the  floor,  his  face 
still  disfigured  with  blood  from  the  sabre-wound  in  his  head, 
and  begrimmed  with  powder  and  dirt,  suffering  pain,  but  full 
of  life  and  spirit.  He  was  anxious  to  talk,  not  the  least 
frightened,  and  his  courage  and  composure  extorted  respect 
from  all,  and  filled  Mr.  V.'s  mind  with  indignation  as  he 
pictured  to  himself  the  cowardly  miscreants  in  high  places  who 
had  urged  on  a  brave,  but  misguided  and  almost  insane,  man- 
to  deeds  of  cruelty  and  bloodshed,  whilst  they  in  perfect 
security  sat  in  cushioned  chairs  a  thousand  miles  away,  conning, 
speeches  upon  the  Slavery  question,  raising  subscriptions  to-. 


114  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

buy  rifles  and  ammunition  to  carry  on  war  in  the  South,  and 
neglecting  or  oppressing  the  poor  and  wretched  around  them. 
Stevens,  a  large,  rather  good-looking,  light-complexioned,  light- 
haired,  heavy-bearded  man,  with  bright  restless  gray  eyes,  his 
gaze  wandering  from  one  to  another  of  those  around  him,  lay 
near  his  chief.  He  was  suffering  from  three  gunshot  wounds, 
and  occasionally  groaned  from  pain.  A  considerable  number 
of  persons  were  in  the  room  gazing  with  curiosity  upon  the 
prostrate  forms,  but  quiet  and  orderly  in  demeanor.  Brown 
seemed  anxious  to  converse,  and  talked  freely  to  any  one  who 
addressed  him.  Mr.  Vallandigham  conversed  a  few  minutes 
with  him,  and  from  papers  published  about  the  time,  and  from 
information  derived  from  Mr.  V.  himself,  the  writer  thinks  the 
subjoined  is  substantially  the  conversation  which  occurred. 
While  Mr.  V.  was  talking  to  him,  several  others  asked  him 
questions  and  received  answers,  some  of  which  are  not  mentioned 
in  this  report  of  the  interview. 

Brown  was  talking  about  the  conflict  when  Senator  Mason 
and  Mr.  Vallandigham  approached  him.  Senator  Mason  said 
to  him :  "  How  do  you  justify  your  acts  ?  " 

Brown. — "  I  think,  my  friend,  you  are  guilty  of  a  great 
wrong  against  God  and  humanity.  I  say  that  without  wish 
ing  to  be  offensive." 

Some  person  remarked,  "  That  may  be  true  possibly.  But 
suppose  it  is,  you  are  not  responsible  for  it;  you  are  not  a  citizen 
of  Virginia,  and  it  is  none  of  your  business,  so  it  don't  inter 
fere  with  you." 

Broitm. — "  It  would  be  perfectly  right  for  any  one  to  inter 
fere  with  you  at  any  time  and  all  times.  I  hold  that  the 
Golden  E.ule,  '  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  others  would  do 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  115 

unto  you/  applies  to  all  who  would  help  others  to  gain  their 
liberty." 

Lieut.  Stuart. — "But  you  don't  believe  in  the  Bible?" 

Brown. — "  Certainly  I  do." 

Mr.  Vallandigham. — "  Where  did  your  men  come  from  ? 
Did  some  of  them  come  from  Ohio?" 

Brown. — "  Some  of  them." 

Mr.  V. — "  From  the  Western  Reserve,  of  course  ?  None 
came  from  Southern  Ohio  ?  " 

Brown. — "  Oh  yes  ;  I  believe  one  came  from  below  Steu- 
benville,  down  not  far  from  Wheeling." 

Mr.  V. — "Have  you  been  in  Ohio  this  summer?" 

Brown.—"  Yes,  Sir." 

Mr.  V.—" How  late?" 

Brown. — "  I  passed  through  to  Pittsburg  on  my  way  here 
in  June." 

Mr.  V. — "Were  you  at  any  County  or  State  fairs  there?" 

Brown. — "  I  was  not  there  since  June.": 

Mr.  V. — "  Were  you  ever  in  Dayton  ?  " 

Brown. — "  Yes,  I  must  have  been." 

jfr.  V.— "  This  summer  ?  " 

Brown. — "  No ;  a  year  or  two  since." 

Senator  Mason. — "  Brown,  does  this  talking  annoy  you  at 
all?" 

Brown. — "  Not  in  the  least." 

Mr.  V. — "  Have  you  lived  long  in  Ohio  ?  " 

Brown. — "I  went  there  in  1825.  I  lived  in  Summit 
County,  Avhich  was  then  Trunibull  County.  My  native  place 
is  York  State." 

Mr.  V. — "  Do  you  recollect  a  man  in  Ohio  named  Brown, 
a  noted  counterfeiter  ?  " 


116  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Brown. — "  I  do  ;  knew  him  from  a  boy.  His  father  was 
Henry  Brown,  of  Irish  or  Scotch  descent ;  the  family  was  very 
low." 

Mr.  V. — "  Have  you  ever  been  in  Portage  County  ?  " 

Brown. — "  I  was  there  in  June  last." 

Jfr.  ym — « "When  in  Cleveland,  did  you  attend  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  Convention  ?  " 

Brown. — "  No ;  I  was  there  about  the  time  of  the  sitting 
of  the  court  to  try  the  Oberlin  rescuers.  I  spoke  there  publicly 
on  that  subject;  I  spoke  on  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  my 
own  rescue,  of  course.  So  far  as  I  had  any  reference  at  all,  I 
was  disposed  to  justify  the  Oberlin  people  for  rescuing  a  slave, 
because  I  have  myself  forcibly  taken  slaves  from  bondage.  I 
was  concerned  in  taking  eleven  slaves  from  Missouri  to  Canada 
last  winter.  I  think  I  spoke  in  Cleveland  before  the  Conven 
tion  ;  do  not  know  that  I  had  any  conversation  with  any  of  the 
Oberlin  rescuers.  "Was  sick  part  of  the  time  I  was  in  Ohio ; 
had  the  ague.  Was  part  of  the  time  in  Ashtabula  County." 

Mr.  V. — "  Did  you  see  anything  of  Joshua  R.  Giddings 
there?" 

Brown. — "  I  did  meet  him." 

Mr.  V. — "  Did  you  consult  with  him  ?  " 

Brown. — "  If  I  did  I  would  not  tell  you,  of  course,  any 
thing  that  would  implicate  Mr.  Giddings,  but  I  certainly  saw 
him  and  had  a  conversation  with  him." 

Mr.  V. — "  I  don't  mean  about  this  affair  of  yours,  I  mean 
about  that  rescue  case." 

Brown. — "  Oh  yes,  I  did  hear  him  express  his  opinion  on 
it  very  freely  and  frankly." 

Mr.  V.—"  Justifying  it?" 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  117 

Brown. — "  Yes,  Sir ;  I  do  not  compromise  him  by  saying 
that," 

Here  a  bystander  asked  him  if  he  did  not  go  out  to  Kansas 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Emigrant  Aid  Society  of  New 
England? 

Brown. — "  No,  Sir ;  I  went  under  the  auspices  of  Old  John 
Brown,  and  nobody  else." 

Mr.  V. — "  Will  you  answer  this  question  ?  Did  you  talk 
with  Giddings  about  your  expedition  here  ?  "  • 

Broivn. — "  No,  Sir,  I  won't  answer  that,  because  a  denial  of 
it  I  would  not  make,  and  to  make  an  affirmation  of  it  I  should 
be  a  great  dunce." 

Mr.  V. — "  Have  you  had  any  correspondence  with  parties 
in  the  North  on  the  subject  of  this  movement  ?  " 

Brown. — "  I  have  had  correspondence." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  now  walked  away,  and  a  bystander,  to 
Mr.  V.  unknown,  commenced  a  conversation  with  Brown,  in 
which  among  other  things  he  asked  the  latter  whether  he  con 
sidered  his  late  attempt  to  forcibly  liberate  the  slaves  was  a 
religious  movement?  To  this  Brown  replied  that  in  his 
opinion  it  was  the  greatest  service  a  man  could  render  to  God, 
and  that  he  considered  himself  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
Providence.  He  was  asked  by  another  man  upon  what  prin 
ciple  he  justified  his  acts  ?  Brown  responded,  "  By  the  Golden 
Rule.  I  pity  the  poor  in  bondage :  that  is  why  I  am  here. 
It  is  not  to  gratify  any  personal  animosity,  or  feeling  of  re 
venge,  or  of  a  vindictive  spirit.  It  is  my  sympathy  with  the 
oppressed  and  wronged,  that  are  as  good  as  you  and  as  precious 
in  the  sight  of  God." 

Bystander. — "  Certainly ;  but  why  take  the  slaves  against 
their  will?" 


118  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

Brown  answered  with  great  warmth,  "  I  never  did." 

Bystander. —  "  You  did  in  one  instance  I  know  of  at  least." 

Stevens  here  spoke  up  and  said,  "You  are  right  in  one 
case.  In  one  case  I  know  the  negro  wanted  to  go  back ;"  and 
then  addressing  himself  to  Brown,  "  Captain,  the  gentleman  is 
right."  Brown  made  no  further  remark  upon  the  subject. 

Mr.  Vallandigham,  who  had  approached  Stevens  when  he 
commenced  speaking,  now  asked  him  :  "  How  recently  did  you 
leave  Ashtabula  County  ?  " 

Stevens. — "Some  months  ago.  I  never  lived  there  any 
length  of  time,  but  have  often  been  through  there." 

Mr.  V. — "  How  far  did  you  live  from  Jefferson  ?  " 

Brown  advised  Stevens  not  to  answer  this  question,  and 
Stevens  was  accordingly  silent.  He  turned  over  with  a  groan 
and  seemed  to  pay  no  further  attention  to  those  around  him ; 
he  was  evidently  suffering  greatly  from  his  wounds,  although 
they  had  been  well  attended  to  and  skilfully  dressed. 

Mr.  V.  to  Brown. — "  Who  were  your  advisers  in  this  move 
ment?" 

Brown. — "  I  have  numerous  sympathisers  throughout  the 
entire  North." 

Mr.  V.— "In  Northern  Ohio?" 

Brown. — "No,  no  more  than  anywhere  else  in  all  the 
Northern  States." 

In  reply  to  a  question  asked  by  one  of  the  gentlemen  stand 
ing  near,  Brown  then  said  he  had  given  up  the  idea  of  securing 
freedom  to  the  negroes  by  moral  suasion  brought  to  bear  on 
their  masters ;  said  he,  "  I  don't  think  the  people  of  the  Slave 
States  will  ever  consider  the  subject  of  slavery  in  its  true  light 
until  some  other  argument  is  resorted  to  than  moral  suasion." 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  119 

Mr.  V. — "  Did  you  expect  a  general  rising  of  the  slaves 
in  case  of  success  ?  " 

Brown. — "No,  Sir,  nor  did  I  wish  it;  I  expected  to  gather 
strength  from  time  to  time,  then  I  could  set  them  free." 

One  of  the  bystanders  hinted  that  Brown  had  a  further 
object  in  view  than  "freeing  the  darkies,"  and  referred  to  the 
taking  of  Col.  Washington's  watch.  Brown  said,  "  Oh  yes ; 
we  intended  freely  to  have  appropriated  the  property  of  slave 
holders  to  carry  out  our  object.  It  was  for  that,  and  only  that; 
we  had  no  design  to  enrich  ourselves  with  any  plunder  what 
ever."  Mr.  Vallandigham  then  inquired  about  his  wound,  and 
seeing  the  surgeon  coming  to  dress  it,  left  the  room. 

This  interview  made  a  very  deep  impression  upon  Mr.  V.'s 
mind ;  he  often  referred  to  it,  and  spoke  of  John  Brown  as  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  men  he  ever  met.  He  was  attacked 
most  violently  by  the  Republican  papers  for  holding  the  con 
versation,  and  it  was  much  misrepresented ;  but  he  never  re 
gretted  it,  nor  did  he  regard  his  conduct  in  any  way  indelicate. 
He  found  Brown  not  only  willing  but  anxious  to  talk,  and  in 
the  full  possession  of  his  mental  faculties.  He  did  not  press 
him  to  answer  any  inquiries ;  he  put  him  on  his  guard,  in  one 
instance  at  least,  to  consider  whether  the  question  should  be 
answered  or  not,  by  prefacing  the  interrogatory  with  the 
question,  "Will  you  answer  this?"  and  he  was  kind  and  cour 
teous  in  his  manner  to  the  prisoner,  although  he  knew  of  his 
vicious  and  bloody  career  in  Kansas.  He  did  desire  to  learn 
whether  Brown  had  any  support  or  assistance  from  prominent 
men  in  the  North  in  making  this  most  outrageous  attack  upon 
the  people  of  the  South. 

Although  John  Brown  had  been  a  very  bad  man,  had  been 


120  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

engaged  in  the  horrible  murder  of  the  Doyle  family  in  -Kansas, 
and  other  murders  there,  had  been  guilty  of  stealing  horses  in 
Missouri,  yet  the  desperate  sincerity  of  the  man  in  his  anti- 
Slavery  views  could  not  but  awaken  a  feeling  akin  to  admira 
tion  in  the  bosom  of  one  who,  in  the  vindication  of  his  own 
peculiar  views,  was  willing  at  all  times  to  stake  fortune,  popu 
larity,  and  life  itself.  He  felt  profoundly  the  conviction  that  if 
John  Brown  was  to  suffer  the  penalty  for  the  actual  commis 
sion  of  murder  and  robbery,  his  aiders  and  abettors,  the  acces 
sories  before  the  fact,  should  also  be  discovered  and  punished. 
With  this  idea  he  endeavored  in  his  interview  with  Brown  to 
get  some  clue  as  to  who  the  parties  were  that  advised  and  aided 
him,  and  furnished  him  the  means  to  perpetrate  the  crimes 
which  he  had  committed  upon  the  soil  of  the  Old  Dominion. 
In  answer  to  the  attacks  of  the  Republican  papers  upon  him  in 
regard  to  this  matter,  he  published  the  following  letter : — 

"  DAYTON,  O.,  Saturday,  Oct.  22,  1859.. 
"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Enquirer : 

"  The  Cincinnati  Gazette  of  yesterday  contains  what  purports 
to  be  a  conversation  between  John  Brown,  the  Harper's  Ferry 
insurgent,  and  myself.  The  editorial  criticism  in  that  paper, 
while  unjust,  is,  nevertheless^  moderate  and  decent  in  temper 
and  language.  Not  so  the  vulgar  but  inoffensive  comments 
of  the  Commercial  and  the  Ohio  /State  Journal  of  to-day.  Self- 
respect  forbids  to  a  gentleman  any  notice  of  such  assaults. 
But  the  report  and  editorial  of  the  Gazette  convey  an  erroneous 
impression,  which  I  desire  briefly  to  correct. 

"  Passing  of  necessity  through  Harper's  Ferry,  on  Wednes 
day  last,  on  my  way  home  from  Washington  City,  I  lay  over 
at  that  place  between  morning  and  evening  trains  for  the  West. 
Through  the  politeness  of  Colonel  Lee,  the  commanding  officer, 
I  was  allowed  to  enter  the  Armory  enclosure.  Inspecting  the 
several  objects  of  interest  there,  and  ainong  them  the  office 


LIFE,  OF  CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIQHAM,  121 

building,  I  came  to  the  room  where  Brown  and  Stevens  lay, 
and  went  in,  not  aware  that  Senator  Mason  or  any  reporter 
was  present  till  I  entered,  and  without  any  purpose  of  asking 
a  single  question  of  the  prisoners ;  and  had  there  been  no  pris 
oners  there  I  should  have  visited  and  inspected  the  place  just 
as  I  did,  in  all  these  particulars. 

"  No  '  interview '  was  asked  for  by  me  or  any  one  else  of 
John  Brown,  and  none  granted,  whether  l  voluntarily  and 
out  of  pure  good- will/  or  otherwise.  Brown  had  no  voice  in 
the  matter,,  the  room  being  open  equally  to  all  who  were  per 
mitted  to  enter  the  Armory  enclosure.  All  went  and  came 
alike  without  consulting  Brown,  nor  did  he  know  either  my 
self  or  the  other  gentlemen  with  whom  he  conversed.  Enter 
ing  the  room,  I  found  Senator  Mason,  of  Virginia,  there  casu 
ally,  together  with  eight  or  ten  others,  and  Brown  conversing 
freely  with  all  who  chose  to  address  him.  Indeed  he  seemed 
eager  to  talk  to  every  one ;  and  new  visitors  were  coming  and 
going  every  moment.  There  was  no  arrangement  to  have  any 
reporter;  nor  did  I  observe  for  some  minutes  after  I  entered 
that  any  were  present.  Some  one  from  New  York  was  taking 
sketches  of  Brown  and  Stevens  during  the  conversation,  and 
the  reporter  of  the  Herald  made  himself  known  to  me  a  short 
time  afterward ;  but  I  saw  nothing  of  the  Gazette  reporter  till 
several  hours  later,  and  then  at  the  hotel  in  the  village. 

"  Finding  Brown  anxious  to  talk  and  ready  to  answer  any 
one  who  chose  to  ask  a  question,  and  having  heard  that  the 
insurrection  had  been  planned  at  the  Ohio  State  Fair  held  at 
Zanesville  in  September,  I  very  naturally  made  the  inquiry 
of  him,  among  other  things,  as  to  the  truth  of  the  statement. 
Learning  from  his  answers  that  he  had  lived  in  Ohio  for  fifty 
years,  and  had  visited  the  State  in  May  or  June  last,  I  prose 
cuted  my  inquiries  to  ascertain  what  connection. his  conspiracy 
might  have  had  with  the  '  Oberlin  Rescue '  trials  then  pend 
ing,  and  the  insurrectionary  movement  at  that  time  made  in 
the  Western  Reserve  to  organise  forcible  resistance  to  the  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Law ;  and  I  have  only  to  regret  that  I  did  not 
pursue  the  matter  further,  asking  more  questions  and  making 
them  more  specific.  It  is  possible  that  some  others  who  are  so 
tenderly  sensitive  in  regard  to  what  was  developed  might  have 
been  equally  implicated.  Indeed,  it  is  incredible  that  a  mere 
casual  conversation,  such  as  the  one  held  by  me  with  John 


122     LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDiGHAM. 

Brown,  should  excite  such  paroxysms  of  rage  and  call  forth  so 
much  vulgar  but  impotent  vituperation,  unless  there  be  much 
more  yet  undisclosed.  Certain  it  is  that  three  of  the  negroes, 
and  they  from  Oberlin,  and  at  least  six  of  the  white  men,  nine 
in  all  out  of  the  nineteen,  including  John  Brown,  the  leader 
of  the  insurrection,  were,  or  had  been,  from  Ohio,  where  they 
had  received  sympathy  and  counsel,  if  not  material  aid  in  their 
conspiracy. 

"  But  the  visit  and  interrogation  were  both  casual,  and  did 
not  continue  over  twenty  minutes  at  the  longest.  Brown,  so 
far  from  being  exhausted,  volunteered  several  speeches  to  the 
reporter,  and  more  than  once  insisted  that  the  conversations  did 
not  disturb  or  annoy  him  in  the  least.  The  report  in  the  New 
York  Herald,  of  October  21st,  is  generally  very  accurate, 
though  several  of  the  questions  attributed  to  me,  and  particu 
larly  the  first  four,  ought  to  have  been  put  in  the  mouth  of 
'  Bystander/  who,  by  the  way,  represents  at  least  half  a  score 
of  different  persons.  As  to  the  charge  preferred  of  '  breach  of 
good  taste  and  propriety/  and  all  that,  I  propose  to  judge  of 
it  for  myself,  having  been  present  on  the  occasion.  There 
was  neither  '  interview/  '  catechising/  '  inquisition/  ( pumping/ 
nor  any  effort  of  the  kind,  but  a  short  and  casual  conversation 
with  the  leader  of  a  bold  and  murderous  insurrection,  a  man 
of  singular  intelligence,  in  full  possession  of  all  his  faculties, 
and  anxious  to  explain  his  plans  and  motives  so  far  as  pos 
sible  without  implicating  his  confederates  otherwise  than  by 
declining  to  answer.  The  developments  are  important:  let 
the  galled  jades  wince. 

"  And  now  allow  me  to  add  that  it  is  vain  to  underrate 
either  the  man  or  his  conspiracy.  Captain  John  Brown  is  as 
brave  and  resolute  a  man  as  ever  headed  an  insurrection,  and, 
in  a  good  cause,  and  with  a  sufficient  force,  would  have  been  a 
consummate  partisan  commander.  He  has  coolness,  daring, 
persistency,  the  stoic  faith  and  patience,  and  a  firmness  of  will 
and  purpose  unconquerable.  He  is  tall,  wiry,  muscular,  but 
with  little  flesh — with  a  cold  gray  eye,  gray  hair,  beard  and 
mustache,  compressed  lips  and  sharp  aquiline  nose,  of  cast-iron 
face  and  frame,  and  with  powers  of  endurance  equal  to  any 
thing  needed  to  be  done  or  suffered  in  any  cause.  Though  en 
gaged  in  a  wicked,  mad  and  fanatical  enterprise,  he  is  the  far 
thest  possible  remove  from  the  ordinary  ruffian,,  fanatic  or  mad- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  123 

man ;  but  his  powers  #re  rather  executory  than  inventive,  and 
he  never  had  the  depth  or  breadth  of  mind  to  originate  and 
contrive  himself  the  plan  of  insurrection  which  he  undertook 
to  carry  out.  The  conspiracy  was,  unquestionably,  far  more 
extended  than  yet  appears,  numbering  among  the  conspirators 
many  more  than  the  handful  of  followers  who  assailed  Harper's 
Ferry,  and  having  in  the  North  and  "West,  if  not  also  the 
South,  as  its  counsellors  and  abettors,  men  of  intelligence,  posi 
tion  and  wealth.  Certainly  it  was  one  among  the  best-planned 
and  executed  conspiracies  that  ever  failed. 

"  For  two  years  he  had  been  plotting  and  preparing  it  with 
aiders  and  comforters  a  thousand  miles  apart,  in  the  slave 
States  and  the  free ;  for  six  months  he  lived  without  so  much 
as  suspicion  in  a  slave  State,  and  near  the  scene  of  the  insur 
rection,  winning  even  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  neigh 
bors,  yet  collecting  day  by  day  large  quantities  of  arms,  and 
making  ready  for  the  outbreak.  He  had  as  complete  an  equip 
ment,  even  to  intrenching  tools,  as  any  commander  in  a  regular 
campaign,  and  intended,  like  Napoleon,  to  make  war  support 
war.  He  had  Sharpens  rifles  and  Maynard's  revolvers  for 
marksmen,  and  pikes  for  the  slaves.  In  the  dead  hour  of 
night,  crossing  the  Potomac,  he  seized  the  Armory  with  many 
thousand  stand  of  arms  and  other  munitions  of  war;  and 
making  prisoners  of  more  than  thirty  of  the  workmen,  officers 
and  citizens,  overawed  the  town  of  Harper's  Ferry  with  its 
thousand  inhabitants.  With  less  than  half  a  score  of  men 
surviving,  he  held  the  Armory  for  many  hours,  refusing, 
though  cut  off  from  all  succor  and  surrounded  upon  all  sides,  to 
surrender,  and  was  taken  with  sword  in  hand,  overpowered  by 
superior  numbers,  yet  fighting  to  the  last.  During  this  short 
insurrection  eighteen  men  were  killed  and  ten  or  more  severely 
wounded  —  twice  the  number  killed  and  wounded  on  the  part 
of  the  American  force  at  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans. 

"  John  Brown  failed  to  excite  a  general  and  most  wicked, 
bloody  and  desolating  servile  and  civil  war,  only  because  the 
slaves  and  non-slaveholding  white  men  of  the  vicinity,  the 
former  twenty  thousand  in  number,  would  not  rise.  He  had 
prepared  arms  and  ammunition  for  fifteen  hundred  men,  and 
captured  at  the  first  blow  enough  to  arm  more  than  fifty 
thousand ;  and  yet  he  had  less  than  thirty  men  —  more,  never 
theless,  than  have  begun  half  the  revolutions  and  conspiracies 


I 

124  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDJGHAM. 

which  history  records.  But  he  had  not  tampered  with  slaves, 
nor  solicited  the  non-slaveholding  whites  around  him,  because 
he  really  believed  that  the  moment  the  blow  was  struck  they 
would  gather  to  his  standard,  and  expecting,  furthermore,  the 
promised  reinforcements  instantly  from  the  North  and  West. 
This  was  the  basis  upon  which  the  whole  conspiracy  was 
planned ;  and  had  his  belief  been  well  founded,  he  would  un 
questionably  have  succeeded  in  stirring  up  a  most  formidal}le 
insurrection,  possibly  involving  the  peace  of  the  whole  coun 
try,  and  requiring,  certainly,  great  armies  and  vast  treasure  to 
suppress  it. 

"  Here  was  his  folly  and  madness.  He  believed  and  acted 
upon  the  faith  which  for  twenty  years  has  been  so  persistently 
taught  in  every  form  throughout  the  free  States,  and  which  is 
but  another  mode  of  statement  of  the  doctrine  of  the  '  irre 
pressible  conflict' — that  slavery  and  the  three  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  slaveholders  of  the  South  are  only  tolerated, 
and  that  the  millions  of  slaves  and  non-slaveholding  white 
men  are  ready  and  eager  to  rise  against  the  '  oligarchy/  need 
ing  only  a  leader  and  deliverer.  The  conspiracy  was  the  natu 
ral  and  necessary  consequence  of  the  doctrines  proclaimed  every 
day,  year  in  and  year  out,  by  the  apostles  of  Abolition.  But 
Brown  was  sincere,  earnest,  practical :  he  proposed  to  add 
works  to  his  faith,  reckless  of  murder,  treason,  and  every  other 
crime.  This  was  his  madness  and  folly.  He  perishes  justly 
and  miserably  —  an  insurgent  and  a  felon ;  but  guiltier  than 
he,  and  with  hi&  blood  upon  their  heads,  and  the  blood  of  all 
whom  he  caused  to  be  slain,  are  the  false  and  cowardly  pro 
phets  and  teachers  of  Abolition. 

"C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM." 

The  sensation  in  the  South  occasioned  by  this  remarkable  raid 
at  Harper's  Ferry  was  wide-spread  and  profound.  It  created 
intense  indignation  and  alarm  in  all  the  slaveholding  States. 
In  many  of  them  preparations  were  immediately  commenced 
for  civil  war.  What  most  alarmed  thinking  men  in  the  South 
was  this :  at  the  commencement  of  the  anti-Slavery  movement 
in  the  North,  those  who  were  most  deeply  interested  in  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  125 

cause  were  men  of  sentimental  feeling,  Utopian  dreamers,  im 
practicable  enthusiasts,  transcendental  philosophers,  Quaker 
poets — non-combatants  all.  Then  the  politicians  took  hold  of 
the  movement,  and  were  elevated  to  places  of  honor  and  emolu 
ment  by  its  potent  influence.  But  neither  of  these  classes  was 
regarded  as  dangerous ;  the  one  shrunk  from  any  physical  con 
test,  the  other  had  no  deep  convictions,  no  real  heart-earnestness, 
and  looked  upon  the  anti-Slavery  sentiment  simply  as  an  ele 
ment  to  use  for  political  advancement  —  a  feeling  which  would 
soon  die  away  when  the  irritating  questions  of  Territorial  govern 
ment  should  be  disposed  of,  and  willing  to  bury  it  quietly,  as 
many  of  them  did  "  Americanism"  or  "Know-nothingism," 
when  its  influence  should  cease  to  be  powerful  or  to  advance 
their  own  personal  interests.  But  this  raid  developed  the  fact 
that  another  class  was  becoming  aroused  and  interested  —  men 
of  deeds,  men  of  action ;  not  cunning  schemers  or  caucus-mana 
gers,  but  fierce,  aggressive,  strong-handed  men,  some  of  them 
perhaps  unable  to  give  audible  expression  to  the  thoughts  that 
burned  within  them,  but  ready  to  attack,  to  fight,  to  shed  blood, 
to  die  for  the  cause  in  which  they  had  embarked.  Truly 
Southern  statesmen  might  well  be  alarmed  at  this  new  anti- 
Slavery  development. 

Union  meetings  were  held  all  over  the  North  for  the  purpose 
of  re-assuring  the  Southern  people,  and  in  deprecation  of  the 
attack  that  had  been  made  upon  them.  But  these  could  do  little 
good.  The  presiding  officers  and  the  speakers  at  these  meetings 
were  conservative  men,  true  patriots,  lovers  of  the  Union,  but 
they  were  men  whose  political  influence  had  passed  away,  poli 
ticians  from  whom  the  sceptre  had  departed ;  they  represented 
a  minority,  and  a  minority  from  which  the  South  had  no  cause 


126  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT -L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  no  feeling  of  apprehension.  These  meetings  had  little 
significance,  and  though  kindly  meant,  were  useless — perhaps 
worse  than  useless,  for  they  kindled  an  enthusiasm  for  Union 
without  regard  to  the  Constitution ;  and  thousands  who  were 
yelling  around  the  platform  responsive  to  denunciations  of  the 
Abolition  agitators  who  had  "  attacked  and  murdered  our 
Southern  brethren,"  in  less  than  two  years  were  yelling  with 
equal  enthusiasm  as  "  Southern  brethren"  by  thousands  fell 
beneath  the  roar  of  their  cannon  and  the  volleys  of  their 
muskets. 

Other  measures  were  needed  and  would  have  been  effective. 
Had  the  Northern  people  repealed  their  "  personal  liberty  bills," 
as  they  were  called,  enactments  made  for  the  very  purpose  of 
nullifying  certain  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  and  the  laws  passed  in  pursuance  thereof;  had  they 
ceased  to  agitate  the  question  of  slavery,  and  left  to  the  people 
of  the  South  the  same  privilege  which  they  themselves 
exercised,  that  of  regulating  as  they  pleased  their  own  domestic 
institutions,  the  storm  would  have  blown  over.  The  evil  of 
slavery — for  we  acknowledge  it  was  an  evil — it  is  true  would  for 
a  time  have  remained,  but  ultimately  it  would  have  been  removed, 
gradually,  and  without  detriment  to  slaveholder  or  slave;  a  long 
and  bloody  civil  war  would  have  been  avoided,  the  terrible 
effects  of  which  are  felt  to  this  day,  and  will  be  felt  for  years, 
perhaps  for  generations  to  come ;  the  Union  would  have  been 
preserved,  a  Union  of  love  and  affection  as  established  by  our 
fathers ;  and  peace,  harmony  and  prosperity  would  have  pre 
vailed  throughout  the  length  and  the  breadth  of  our  widely 
extended  country. 


CHAPTEK    IX. 

THE    THIKT  Y-S IXTH    CONGKESS. 

ON  the  5th  day  of  December,  1859,  the  Thirty-Sixth  Con 
gress  commenced  its  first  session.  It  was  a  time  of  great  ex 
citement  throughout  the  country,  occasioned  by  the  recent 
"  John  Brown  raid,"  and  by  the  publication  and  wide  circula 
tion  of  a  book  called  the  "  Impending  Crisis."  To  the  former 
we  have  already  given  considerable  space:  the  latter  demands 
a  passing  notice.  The  "Impending  Crisis"  was  written  by 
Hinton  R.  Helper,  a  man  then  unknown  to  fame  and  without 
position  in  society.  A  few  quotations  from  the  book  will  ex 
hibit  its  atrocious  character  and  wicked  purpose. 

The  book  recommends  the  following  course  of  action  to 
citizens  of  the  South  not  holding  slaves : — 

1st. — "Thorough  organization  and  independent  political 
action  on  the  part  of  the  non-slaveholding  whites  of  the 
South." 

2d. — "  Ineligibility  of  pro-slavery  slaveholders.  Never 
another  vote  to  any  one  who  advocates  the  retention  and  per 
petuation  of  human  slavery." 

3d. — "  No  co-operation  with  pro-slavery  politicians ;  no 
fellowship  with  them  in  religion ;  no  affiliation  with  them  in 
society." 


128  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

4th. — "  No  patronage  to  pro-slavery  merchants  ;  no  guest- 
ship  in  slave-waiting  hotels ;  no  fees  to  pro-slavery  lawyers ; 
no  employment  of  pro-slavery  physicians ;  no  audience  to  pro- 
slavery  parsons,"  &c.,  &c. 

The  following  sentences  also  occur  in  the  book : — • 

"  Against  slaveholders  as  a  body  we  wage  an  exterminating 
war."  "*We  contend  that  slaveholders  are  more  criminal  than 
common  murderers."  "The  negroes,  nine  cases  out  of  ten, 
would  be  delighted  at  the  opportunity  to  cut  their  masters' 
throats." 

This  book,  abounding  in  sentiments  like  these,  and  some  far 
more  offensive  than  any  we  have  quoted,  was  highly  commended 
by  leading  Republicans,  was  indorsed  by  a  large  majority  of 
Republican  Congressmen,  and  was  by  them  circulated  by  tens 
of  thousands  in  every  part  of  the  land. 

The  excitement  prevailing  throughout  the  country  was  of 
course  intensely  felt  and  conspicuously  exhibited  in  Congress. 
In  the  House  neither  of  the  two  great  political  parties  which 
nearly  equally  divided  the  country,  had  a  majority ;  the  balance 
of  power  was  with  what  was  called  the  American  party ;  a 
small  band,  but  just  then  one  of  influence  and  importance.  In 
consequence  of  this  state  of  things  the  election  of  a  Speaker 
was  a  very  difficult  matter,  and  a  bitter  struggle  ensued,  pro 
tracted  for  two  months.  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  was  nomin 
ated  by  the  Republicans ;  but  as  he  was  an  indorser  of  Helper's 
book,  Ins  election  was  violently  opposed  and  ultimately  de 
feated.  The  discussions  from  day  to  day  were  of  a  most  tur 
bulent  character.  A  majority  of  the  members  came  to  the 
JSouse  armed;  fierce  words  were  spoken,  and  often  there 
seemed  imminent  danger  of  personal  collision. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  129 

4 

On  the  14th  of  December,  Mr.  "Vallandigham  obtained  the 
floor  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  speech ;  as,  however,  it  was 
late  in  the  evening,  he  asked  for  an  adjournment.  This,  though 
customary  as  a  matter  of  courtesy,  the  Republican  members 
refused.  They  knew  that  he  was  a  bitter  opponent  of  Aboli 
tionism  ;  his  interview  with  John  Brown,  grossly  misrepre 
sented  as  it  was  by  Republican  papers,  had  offended  them,  and 
they  determined  to  annoy  him  in  his  effort  to  speak,  or  to 
prevent  it  altogether.  He,  however,  took  his  stand  at  the 
head  of  the  middle  aisle,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  their  disorder 
and  confusion  firmly  and  calmly  maintained  it.  Postponing 
for  the  present  the  speech  he  had  intended  to  make,  he  con 
sumed  the  time  in  severe  criticism  of  Helper's  book,  till,  tired 
of  the  unpalatable  dose  he  was  administering  to  them,  they 
gladly  consented  to  an  adjournment.  The  next  morning  he 
was  permitted  to  speak  without  interruption.  Two  brief 
extracts  from  that  speech,  as  reported  in  the  National  Intelli 
gencer,  we  here  give  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  his  strong 
Union  feeling,  and  the  cause  and  the  extent  of  his  Southern 
sympathies : — 


"  Mr.  Vallandigham,  of  Ohio,  addressed  the  House.  He 
said,  though  a  young  man,  still  he  had  seen  some  legislative 
service;  but  he  had  always  endeavored  so  to  be  a  politician  as 
not  to  forget  that  he  was  a  gentleman,  and  he  was  resolved  to 
exact  from  others  that  courtesy  which  he  was  always  willing 
to  award.  He  charged  the  Republican  party  with  discourtesy 
in  refusing  to  adjourn,  according  to  his  desire,  last  evening. 
He  had  said  that  if  any  man  had  endorsed  a  book  of  an  incen 
diary  character,  and  had  refused  to  disavow  its  sentiments,  he 
was  not  fit  to  be  Speaker  or  member  of  this  House,  and  he  re 
peated  that  assertion  to-day.  A  slaveholder  had  stated  that 
such  a  person  was  not  fit  to  live,  but  there  was  no  indignation 

9 


130  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

on  the  Republican  side  of  the  House  manifested  as  there  had 
been  when  he  made  his  declaration.  He  would  inform  gentle 
men  on  that  side  that  he  was  their  peer,  and  he  would  exact 
from  them  as  a  Western  Democrat  the  same  consideration 
which  they  were  forced  to  give  Southern  slaveholders.  If  they 
thought  otherwise  they  had  yet  to  learn  his  character,  for  he 
was  as  good  a  Western  fire-eater  as  the  hottest  salamander  in 
this  House.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  He  had  been  served 
with  a  notice  this  morning  that  the  Republican  side  did  not 
intend  to  listen  to  any  further  discussion.  He  cared  not 
whether  they  would  listen  or  not;  he  told  them  the  country 
held  its  breath  in  suspense  upon  every  word  said  here,  and  he 
was  determined  to  declare  his  sentiments. 

"  In  this  sectional  controversy  he  held  a  position  of  armed 
neutrality.  He  was  not  a  Northern  man  with  Southern  prin 
ciples,  but  a  United  States  man  with  United  States  principles ; 
but  when  the  South  was  threatened  with  armed  invasions, 
servile  insurrections,  and  the  torch  of  the  incendiary,  his  sym 
pathies  were  wholly  for  her.  He  had  no  respect  for  Southern 
rights  simply  as  such ;  let  the  South  defend  them,  as  he  knew 
they  would  and  could ;  but  he  had  a  tender  regard  for  his  own 
obligations.  As  a  Northern  man  he  would  give  the  South  all 
her  constitutional  rights,  including  three-fifths  rule,  fugitive 
slave  law,  equal  rights  in  the  territories,  and  whatever  else  the 
Constitution  gives.  [Applause.]  He  was  not  true  to  the 
South  in  the  sense  of  defending  Southern  institutions  and  giv 
ing  Southern  votes  on  questions  regardless  of  his  Free  State 
identity;  but  he  was  true  to  the  South,  as  were  the  great  mass 
of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  North,  in  maintaining  all  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  South  against  all  her  enemies  what 
soever.  There  were  three  classes  in  the  country :  those  who 
were  pro-slavery,  those  who  were  anti-slavery,  and  those  who 
occupied  a  middle  or  neutral  ground ;  and  to  the  latter  class  he 
claimed  to  belong.  That,  he  believed,  was  the  true  ground  for 

all  Conservative  Union  men  of  this  country. He  was 

opposed  to  disunion,  come  from  whatever  quarter  it  might. 
But  the  South  had  an  ample  apology  in  the  events  of  the  last 
few  months.  War,  open  war,  had  been  proclaimed  against 
them,  and  arson  and  murder  had  been  committed  in  their 
streets.  The  murderer  had  been  executed,  but  he  had  risen 
from  the  dead  a  hero  and  a  martyr,  and  his  followers  were 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  131 

gathering  strength  and  only  awaiting  the  hour  to  renew  the 
invasion.  These  things  were  ample  apology  for  the  alarm  and 
indignation  which  pervade  the  South.  But  would  they  secede 
now  ?  Would  they  break  up  the  Union  of  these  States,  and 
bring  down  forever,  in  one  promiscuous  ruin,  the  pillars  and 
columns  of  this  magnificent  temple  of  liberty  which  our  fathers 
reared?  Wait  a  little.  Let  them  try  again  the  peaceful 
remedy  of  the  ballot-box,  more  potent  than  the  bayonet.  He 
was  not  as  hopeful  of  the  final  result  as  some ;  but  he  was 
taught  in  his  infancy  that  he  should  never  despair  of  the  Re 
public.  He  believed  in  an  overruling  Providence,  and  that 
God  had  fore-ordained  for  this  country  a  higher,  mightier, 
nobler  destiny  than  for  any  other  country  since  the  world  began. 
Time's  noblest  empire  was  the  last.  From  the  North  Pole  to 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  from  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  stretching  over  the  vast  basin  of  the  Mississippi, 
scaling  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  lost  at  last  in  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Pacific,  he  beheld  the  future  of  this  country  in  patriotic 
vision,  one  Union,  one  Constitution,  one  destiny.  [Applause.] 
But  this  magnificent  destiny  could  only  be  achieved  by  us  as  a 
united  people." 

This  speech,  the  first  of  any  length  delivered  by  Mr.  Val- 
landigham,  was  highly  applauded. 

We  present  two  short  extracts  from  papers  published  at  the 
time : — 

From  the  Journal  of  Commerce  : — 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham,  of  Ohio,  who  is  a  fine  speaker  as  well 
as  a  sound  thinker,  made  a  capital  Union  speech  to-day  against 
sectionalism  and  ultraism  on  both  sides.  He  declares  one 
thing  in  which  every  Western  man  concurs,  to  wit :  that  the 
great  West  will  never  allow  a  dissolution  of  the  Union." 

From  the  Washington  Star : — 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  delivered  a  national  speech  in  the  House 
hall  this  morning,  which  won  him  great  oratorical  reputation, 
and  was  in  itself  a  key  to  the  remarkable  opposition  manifested 


132  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLAKDIGHAM. 

by  the  Republican  party  members  yesterday  to  his  effort  to 
address  the  body.  That  is  to  say,  they  had  no  fancy  to  permit 
a  gentleman  to  speak  who  would  surely  place  them  much  more 
clearly  on  the  defensive  than  before.  We  take  it  for  granted 
that  no  Speaker  will  be  elected  until  the  best  reply  that  can 
possibly  be  made  to  Mr.  V.'s  speech  shall  have  been  made." 

After  angry  discussions,  exciting  scenes,  and  frequent  bal- 
lottings  from  day  to  day,  continued  through  the  months  of 
December  and  January,  at  length,  on  the  1st  day  of  February, 
a  Speaker  was  elected,  the  Hon.  Wm.  Pennington,  of  New 
Jersey,  a  moderate  Republican,  and  one  who  was  not  an  in- 
dorser  of  Helper's  book. 

About  this  time,  complaint  was  made  to  Mr.  Yallandigham 
by  the  editor  of  a  religious  and  political  paper  published  in  his 
district,  that  its  circulation  in  the  South  was  obstructed  by  the 
unlawful  action  of  certain  Southern  postmasters.  The  paper 
in  question  was  an  Abolition  sheet,  and  these  postmasters,  re 
garding  it  as  incendiary  and  mischievous,  had  taken  the 
responsibility  in  some  cases  of  withholding  it  from  subscribers, 
or  even  of  destroying  it.  Mr.  Yallandigham  was  no  friend  to 
the  paper,  to  its  spirit  or  purpose;  but  he  was  in  favor  of 
free  speech,  a  free  press,  and  the  free  and  unobstructed  circula 
tion  of  newspapers.  He  promptly  interposed,  and  through  his 
influence  the  grievance  was  redressed.  Yet  the  very  men  who 
had  invoked  his  aid  and  commended  his  course  in  securing  a 
free  transmission  through  the  mails  of  this  paper  —  a  paper  of 
the  kind  which  the  people  of  the  South  regarded  as  not  only 
insulting  but  dangerous  —  these  men  in  less  than  two  years 
were  clamorous  for  the  suppression  of  the  Democratic  press 
throughout  the  land,  and  eager  to  silence  the  voice  of  all  who 
dared  to  differ  irom  them  as  to  the  measures  best  calculated  to 
promote  the  peace  and  harmony  and  prosperity  of  the  country. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  133 

In  February,  Mr.  "Vallandigham  delivered  a  brief  eulogy 
upon  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Goode,  of  Virginia ;  and 
in  March  spoke  at  length  against  the  "  hour-rule,"  denouncing 
it  as  a  chief  source  of  evil  in  legislation  and  parliamentary  pro 
ceeding.  He  offered  an  amendment:  "That  the  limitation 
of  debate  to  one  hour  shall  apply  only  to  speeches  read  by 
members  in  the  House  or  Committee."  He  would  have  pre 
ferred  to  have  the  rule  abrogated  altogether,  but  believing  that 
this  could  not  be  accomplished,  he  thought  that  by  adopting  the 
amendment  the  evil  would  be  mitigated.  It  was  an  evil,  and 
had  been  wherever  it  had  obtained.  At  Athens,  in  her  legis 
lative  assembly  there  was  no  limit  to  public  debate,  and  hence 
those  splendid  remains  of  Grecian  eloquence  which  challenged 
the  admiration  of  the  world  to  this  day.  But  'in  the  judicial 
courts  of  Athens  the  rule  did  prevail,  and  forensic  eloquence 
attained  but  small  importance  in  Greece.  Limitation  upon 
debate  was  not  known  in  the  Roman  Senate,  or  at  the  Roman 
bar  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic;  but  as  she  began 
to  fall  into  decay  the  "hour-rule"  was  applied  in  judicial 
trials,  and  according  to  the  testimony  of  her  historians,  from 
that  moment  forensic  eloquence  perished.  But  to  come  down 
to  our  own  times,  it  was  the  testimony  of  men  who  had 
long  served  in  Congress,  that  since  the  adoption  of  the  "  hour- 
rule,"  speeches  had  increased  in  quantity  and  deteriorated  in 
quality.  The  rule  had  been  vehemently  assailed  by  Mr. 
Ben  ton.  Mr.  Calhoun  had  denounced  it  as  "  destroying  the 
liberties  of  the  people  by  gagging  their  Representatives ; "  and 
it  had  been  opposed  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  by  many 
others  of  the  oldest  and  ablest  members  of  the  House.  He 
would  not  disparage,  as  some  were  disposed  to  do,  those  care- 


134  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLAKDIGHAM. 

fully  prepared  and  elegantly  written  lectures  which  often 
wearied  the  patience  of  the  House ;  but  these  essays  or  lectures 
were  not  delivered  in  the  proper  place :  they  belonged  to  the 
lyceum  and  not  to  legislation.  He  longed  to  see  restored 
to  the  House  legitimate  debate  —  that  interesting  and  exciting 
debate  so  highly  dramatic  in  character,  now  heard  only  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  or  in  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain,  but  which  since  the  adoption  of  the  "  hour-rule  "  had 
almost  wholly  disappeared  from  the  Representative  Chamber, 
and  lingered  only  in  the  memory  or  the  records  of  the  past. 
He  concluded  thus : 

"  The  discussion  upon  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  in  which 
from  one  hundred  and  seventy  to  two  hundred  speeches  were 
delivered  or  read,  occupied  the  time,  if  not  the  attention,  of  the 
House  from  the  16th  of  December  until  the  30th  of  April. 
And  why  is  this  ?  Because  we  have  no  legitimate  debate.  The 
speech  of  one  member  does  not  follow  that  of  another.  One  set 
of  ideas  or  arguments  is  not  provoked  by  another  urged  by  the 
speaker  who  preceded.  We  hear  none  and  have  none  of  that 
kind  of  debate.  Disconnected  lectures,  written  weeks  before, 
and  concealed  in  the  desks  of  members,  are  continually  produced 
here  and  read  to  empty  benches,  and  yet  go  forth  to  the  country 
as  speeches  which  thrill  the  hearts  of  members  and  those  who 
throng  our  galleries. 

"Sir,  I  remember,  as  an  illustration  this  moment  occurring  to 
me,  that  a  member  from  Illinois  read  an  essay  upon  this  floor 
in  the  month  of  February  one  year  ago,  late  at  night,  to  three 
members  and  five  pages  [laughter],  and  yet  the  next  day  it  was 
telegraphed  to  a  leading  paper  in  the  city  of  New  York  as  one 
of  the  most  thrilling  speeches  ever  delivered  in  the  House, 
remarkable  especially  for  its  fearlessness  and  the  boldness  of 
its  denunciation  [renewed  laughter],  and  perfectly  electrifying 
every  one  present.  Now,  is  it  not  time  that  this  evil  was 
remedied  ?  I  repeat  again,  that  the  quantum  of  speaking  will 
not  be  increased  by  the  abrogation  of  the  hour-rule ;  the  num 
ber  of  pages  which  make  up  your  Congressional  Globe  will  not 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  135 

be  multiplied ;  and  what  difference  is  it  to  us  or  to  the  country 
whether  one  man  shall  speak  for  two  hours  or  two  men  speak 
for  one  hour  each  ?  It  may  be  of  some  moment  to  our  particu 
lar  constituencies,  but  it  is  none  to  the  whole  country.  Let 
gentlemen  who  would  discuss  mere  partisan  or  local  topics,  go 
back  to  the  ancient  usage,  which  prevailed  some  forty  years  ago, 
of  publishing  addresses  upon  such  questions  to  their  constituents. 
Let  us  agree  henceforth  that  what  is  said  upon  the  floor  here  shall 
relate  to  the  great  measures  of  public  policy  and  legislation  which 
may  come  before  us,  and  not  to  mere  fleeting  and  temporary  sub 
jects  of  controversy  between  parties.  No  reform  which  we  can 
devise  will  tend  so  far  to  bring  the  House  back  to  its  ancient 
dignity  and  decorum,  and  to  that  high  repute  which  belonged 
to  it  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic. 

"  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  the  fact 
that  for  thirty  years  after  the  organization  of  this  Government 
the  Senate  was  not  the  centre  of  attraction.  It  was  the  House 
upon  which  the  eyes  of  the  country  were  turned.  It  was  here, 
Sir,  that  in  those  days  there  were  gathered  an  Ames,  a  Madison, 
an  Ellsworth,  a  Randolph,  a  Sherman,  and  others  of  a  like  fame 
Avho  have  made  the  history  of  our  country  illustrious.  But  for 
thirty  years  now,  and  especially  within  the  twenty  years  past, 
since  the  adoption  of  the  hour-rule,  along  with  other  evils,  the 
importance  and  even  the  equality  of  the  House  has  been  lost, 
and  it  is  the  Senate  whose  galleries  the  people  throng  now ;  it  is 
the  Senate  that  has  drawn  upon  itself  the  chief  attention  of  the 
country ;  it  is  the  debates  in  the  Senate  for  which  the  public  look ; 
it  is  the  speeches  delivered  in  the  Senate  which  circulate 
throughout  the  land;  and,  finally,  it  is  the  Senate,  as  the  gentle 
man  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Garnett]  suggested,  which  is  not  only 
absorbing  all  the  legislation  of  the  country,  but  is  moulding 
that  public  opinion  which  controls  the  Government.  Is  it  not 
apparent  then,  I  ask,  that  there  should  be  found,  and  right 
speedily,  a  remedy  for  the  disrepute  into  which  this  House  has 
iallen  ?  What  that  remedy  may  be  I  leave  to  your  wisdom, 
gentlemen,  to  devise ;  but  I  repeat  that  the  abrogation  of  the 
'  hour-rule 9  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  first  and  a  most  important 
step  in  that  direction. 

"  Mr.  Cox. —  I  wish  to  ask  my  colleague  a  single  question. 
He  seems  to  have  taken  the  British  House  of  Commons  as  his 
model  of  a  parliamentary  body. 


136  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  Mr.  VaUandigham. — Not  altogether,  although  this  House 
was  certainly  modeled  after  it. 

"Mr.  Cox. —  My  colleague  has,  no  doubt,  read  in  Ten 
Thousand  a  Year  of  one  Tittlebat  Titmouse,  who  broke  down  a 
ministry  by  crowing  at  an  inopportune  time.  [Laughter.]  I 
suppose  that,  to  carry  out  the  system  in  this  House,  it  should 
be  the  duty  of  the  Speaker  to  appoint  persons  who  are  to  per 
form  that  duty.  But,  as  my  colleague  refers  to  classic  authori 
ties,  I  ask  him  whether  it  was  not  true  that  the  '  hour-rule J 
always  prevailed  in  the  Roman  Senate  ? 

"  Mr.  VaUandigham. —  Certainly  not. 

"  Mr.  Cox. —  I  ask  if  it  was  not  extraordinary  that  those 
great  declamations  of  Demosthenes  and  JEschines  always  came 
out  in  exactly  sixty  minutes  ? 

"  Mr.  VaUandigham. —  My  colleague  is,  as  Titmouse  would 
say,  a  most  ' respectable  gent;'  and  no  doubt  the  incident  to 
which  he  has  referred  in  that  gentleman's  parliamentary  career, 
illustrating  his  powers  of  crowing,  was  called  to  mind  by  the 
similarity  between  my  colleague's  name  [Mr.  Cox]  and  the 
barn-yard  fowl  called 

4  Chanticleer  who  wakes  the  morn.' 

He  is  the  very  bird  for  the  new  office  he  proposes.  [Laughter.] 
But  I  regret  that  he  has  exhibited  such  lamentable  forgetful- 
ness,  at  least,  in  regard  to  the  Roman  and  Grecian  eloquence 
to  which  I  had  made  allusion  by  way  of  illustration.  If  he 
had  recently  read  the  speeches  of  Demosthenes  and  JEschines 
to  which  he  refers,  he  would  not  have  asked  whether  they  were 
not  spoken  in  sixty  minutes.  Certainly  they  cannot  now  be 
read  in  two  hours,  and  that  without  including  the  documents 
quoted  by  the  orators. 

"  Mr.  Cox. —  That  depends  upon  whether  they  are  read  in 
the  original.  [Laughter.] 

"Mr.  VaUandigham. —  I  do  not  profess  to  be  as  familiar 
with  Greece  as  my  colleague.  He  has  seen  the  '  isles  of  Greece/ 
visited  the  classic  shores  of  Attica,  walked  the  streets  of 
Athens,  and  stood  upon  the  Acropolis.  I  have  not.  He 
visited  Rome,  too ;  though  I  may  not  speak  of  what  he  saw  or 
heard  in  the  Eternal  City;  he  has  written  it  in  a  book. 
[Laughter.]  But  I  will  not  occupy  the  time  of  the  committee 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  137 

longer.  By  reason  of  the  very  evil  of  interruptions  of  which 
I  complained,  I  have  been  forced  to  speak  at  far  greater  length 
than  I  intended.  I  beg  pardon,  gentlemen." 

About  the  same  time  he  spoke  in  support  of  a  bill  he  had 
offered  to  provide  for  the  better  arming  of  the  militia  of  the 
States.  It  was  a  subject  to  which  he  had  always  devoted  much 
attention,  having  while  a  student  of  law  held  the  position  of 
Division-Inspector  in  his  native  county,  with  the  rank  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel.  In  1857,  upon  the  reorganization  of  the 
volunteer  militia  of  Ohio,  he  had  been  chosen  a  Brigadier- 
General,  and  had  spent  no  small  amount  of  money  and  time  to 
bring  his  command  into  good  condition  and  discipline.  He 
now  labored  earnestly,  at  this  and  the  succeeding  session,  to 
procure  arms  from  the  Federal  Government,  though  without 
success. 

In  April,  1860,  as  Secretary  of  the  National  Democratic 
Committee,  he  attended  the  Presidential  Convention  at 
Charleston,  S.  C.  Though  never  an  indorser  of  Mr.  Douglass's 
peculiar  views  in  reference  to  "  Squatter  Sovereignty/7  or  the 
power  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  Territory  over  the  institution 
of  Slavery,  yet  for  personal  reasons,  and  because  he^believed  him 
to  be  the  fittest  man  to  meet  the  impending  crisis,  he  sincerely 
supported  that  gentleman  for  the  nomination.  At  the  same 
time  he  saw  with  anxiety  and  alarm  that  the  unwise  counsels 
and  ill-advised  measures  of  some  of  Mr.  Douglass's  friends 
were  about  to  be  used  by  his  extreme  Southern  opponents  to 
break  up  the  Convention,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  his 
mind  freely.  Foreseeing  in  this,  as  in  so  much  else,  the  ap 
proaching  storm  of  civil  war,  he  earnestly  labored  to  avert  the 
mischief.  Men  over-zealous  in  support  of  their  favorite,  took 


138  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

occasion  to  question  his  sincerity.  This  coming  to  the  notice 
of  Mr.  Douglass,  he  replied  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  declaring  that 
he  never  had  a  moment's  doubt  of  Mr.  Yallandigham's  honor 
and  fidelity;  adding,  "Whenever  I  know  a  man  to  be  a  gen 
tleman,  I  always  regard  his  word  as  conclusive." 

It  was  during  this  Convention  that  the  following  incident 
occurred,  as  related  by  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Charleston 
(S.C.)  Courier:— 

"On  one  occasion  when  Mr.  Yallandigham,  Mr.  John  A. 
Logan  of  Illinois,  Mr.  Larrabee  of  Wisconsin,  and  others  were 
present,  the  conversation  turned  upon  the  threatening  attitude 
of  the  questions  before  the  convention.  Mr.  Vallandigham 
rose  at  the  dinner-table  with  an  air  of  great  gravity,  and 
said : — '  Gentlemen,  if  the  Democratic  party  is  disrupted  in 
this  Charleston  Convention,  the  result  will  be  the  disruption 
of  the  Union,  and  one  of  the  bloodiest  civil  wars  on  record, 
the  magnitude  of  which  no  one  can  estimate.  In  the  unity 
of  the  Democratic  party,  and  in  the  Union,  lies  the  hope  of 
the  South  and  of  Republican  government/  Mr.  Logan  re 
plied  : — f  Sit  down,  Yallandigham,  and  drink  your  wine ;  you 
are  always  prophesying.'  Mr. Yallandigham  rejoined : — ' Gen 
tlemen,  I  speak  earnestly,  because  I  feel  deeply  impressed  with 
the  truth  of  what  I  have  uttered.' " 

It  is  manifest  that  about  this  time  Mr.  Yallandigham  was 
very  apprehensive  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  In  a  letter 
to  his  brother  James,  dated  Washington,  D.C.,  May  16,  I860, 
he  says : — 

"  As   to   our   political   future  I  am  utterly  in  the  dark. 

Providence  can  save  us  yet,  but  nothing  else I  am  not 

troubled  so  far  about  my  own  district  —  as  the  Democratic 
party  there  will  be  united  on  me,  and  I  shall  receive  also  many 
votes  from  the  '  Union  Party/  no  doubt.  But  I  shall  be  con 
tent  whatever  betides,  for  I  know  that  I  am  in  the  hands  of 
Him  who  doeth  all  things  well.  Resignation  to  His  will  is 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  139 

one  of  the  highest  evidences  of  piety  and  first  duties  of  a 
Christian,  for  it  is  written  that  godliness  with  contentment  is 
great  gain.  So  that,  though  I  expect  to  be  re-elected,  yet 
should  it. turn  out  otherwise,  I  will  return  to  my  profession 
without  a  murmur,  and  with  renewed  energy — unless,  indeed, 
that  dire  and  impending  calamity,  a  disruption  of  the  Uniorij 
should  occur.  In  that  event,  which  God  in  His  mercy  avert, 
I  shall  have  much  to  do  in  the  scenes  which  must  follow." 

On  the  19th  of  May  Mr.  Vallandigham  returned  home  on 
a  brief  visit  from  Washington,  and  addressed  the  people  in 
front  of  the  court-house.  The  following  are  extracts  from  the 
speech : — 

"He  was  not  for  the  North,  nor  for  the  South,  but  for  the 
whole  country ;  and  yet  in  a  conflict  of  sectional  interests  he 
was  for  THE  WEST  all  the  time.  In  a  little  while,  even  after 
the  present  year,  men  east  of  the  mountains  would  learn  that 
there  was  a  West,  -which  to  them  has  heretofore  been  an  '  un 
discovered  country.'  He  hoped  fervently  to  see  the  day  when 
we  should  hear  no  more  of  sections;  but  as  long  as  men  else 
where  demanded  a  *  united  North/  and  a  '  united  South/  he 
wanted  to  see  a  ' united  West/  Still  the  'United  States' 
was  a  better  term,  more  patriotic,  more  constitutional,  and  more 
glorious  than  any  of  them." 

Referring  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  "  irrepressible  conflict "  speech 

of  1858  — 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  proceeded  for  some  time  to  denounce 
the  sentiment  of  the  speech  in  a  vehement  and  impassioned 
manner,  as  revolutionary,  disorganising,  subversive  of  the 
Government,  and  ending  necessarily  in  disunion.  Our  fathers 
had  founded  a  government  expressly  upon  the  compatibility 
and  harmony  of  a  union  of  States  '  part  slave  and  part  free/ 
and  whoever  affirmed  the  contrary,  laid  the  axe  at  the  very 
root  of  the  Union." 

And  in  a  later  speech  at  the  same  place  he  said : — 

"  Kill  the  Northern  and  Western  anti-slavery  organization 


140  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

(the  Kepublican  party),  and  the  extreme  Southern  pro-slavery 
*  fire-eating '  organization  of  the  Cotton  States  (its  offspring) 
will  expire  in  three  months.  Continue  the  Republican  party 
—  above  all,  put  it  in  power,  and  the  antagonism  will  grow 
till  the  whole  South  will  become  a  unit." 

On  the  first  of  August  he  addressed  a  very  large  Demo 
cratic  meeting  at  Detroit,  Michigan.  In  the  course  of  the 
speech  he  said : — 

"For  twenty  years  the  country  has  been  agitated  by  this 
subject  of  slavery.  Men  of  the  North  and  West  have  been 
taught  to  hate  the  men  of  the  South,  and  Southerners  have 
been  taught  to  hate  the  men  of  the  North  and  West.  This 
Northern  sectionalism  and  fanaticism  has  been  approaching 
nearer  and  nearer  to  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  while  the 
Southern  fanaticism,  starting  in  the  Cotton  States,  has  been 
creeping  northwardly,  until  the  two  factions  have  nearly  met. 
What  will  be  the  inevitable  result  of  the  conflict  that  must 
ensue?  They  must  meet  if  the  floods  of  fanaticism  be  not 
checked.  When  they  meet  on  the  plains  of  Southern  Illinois, 
Indiana  and  Ohio,  how  long  in  God's  name  can  the  country 
endure  ?  Human  nature  has  been  misread  from  the  time  of 
Cain  to  this  day,  if  bloody  blood,  human  blood  is  not  the  result. 
But,  thank  God,  between  the  two  sections  there  is  a  band  of 
national  men,  patriots,  who  love  their  country  more  than  sec 
tionalism,  ready  to  stay  this  conflict.  Our  mission  is  to  drive 
this  sectionalism .  of  the  North  back  to  Canada,  whence  it 
sprung ;  and  that  of  the  South  back  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico." 

It  was  upon  this  occasion  that  he  first  crossed  the  river  to 
Windsor,  little  imagining  that  in  three  years  it  was  to  be  his 
place  of  sojourn  while  in  exile  for  the  exercise  of  his  constitu 
tional  rights  as  a  citizen.  He  foresaw  the  civil  war,  but  not 
the  immediate  overthrow  of  personal  and  political  liberty. 

Mr.  Douglass  having  been  nominated  by  the  main  body  of 
the  adjourned  convention  at  Baltimore,  Mr.  Vallandigham 
supported  him  earnestly  throughout  the  canvass.  He  was' 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM,  141 

himself  for  the  fifth  time  the  Democratic  candidate  in  his 
district  for  Representative  in  Congress,  and  again  without  the 
formality  of  a  convention.  Though  not  quite  the  most  bitter, 
it  was  the  most  difficult  and  delicate  of  all  his  canvasses,  in 
asmuch  as  the  opponents  of  the  Republican  party  were  divided 
into  three  sections,  supporting  respectively 'Bell,  Breckenridge, 
and  Douglass.  Yet  he  was  returned  by  a  majority  nearly  the 
same  as  in  1858.  Shortly  afterwards  he  went  to  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  to  speak  in  behalf  of  the  "  Union  Ticket "  in 
those  States ;  and  it  was  at  the  great  meeting  of  November  2d, 
at  the  "  Cooper  Institute,"  that  he  made  the  declaration  that 
"  he  never  would,  as  a  Representative  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  vote  one  dollar  of  money  whereby  one  drop  of . 
American  blood  should  be  shed  in  a  civil  war."  Late  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  day  of  the  election  he  reached  home  and  gave 
his  vote,  remarking  to  a  friend  that  "he  feared  it  was  the 
last  which  any  one  would  give  for  a  President  of  the  United 
States." 

On  the  10th  of  November,  four  days  after  the  Presidential 
election,  he  published  a  card  in  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  in 
reply  to  an  attack  by  a  Republican  paper.  The  following  is 
an  extract : — 

"And  now  let  me  add  that  I  did  say,  not  in  Washington  nor 
at  a  dinner-table,  not  in  the  presence  of '  fire-eaters, '  but  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  in  public  assembly  of  Northern  men,  and  in  a 
public  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  on  the  2d  of  November, 
1860,  that '  if  any  one  or  more  of  the  States  of  this  Union  should 
at  any  time  secede  for  reasons  of  the  sufficiency  and  justice  of 
which,  before  God  and  the  great  tribunal  of  history,  they  alone 
may  j  udge,  much  as  I  should  deplore  it,  I  never  would  as  a  Repre 
sentative  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  vote  one  dollar  of 
money  whereby  one  drop  of  American  blood  should  be  shed  in  a  civil 


142 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 


war.  That  sentiment,  thus  uttered  in  the  presence  of  thousands 
of  the  merchants  and  solid  men  of  the  free  and  patriotic  city  of 
New  York,  was  received  with  vehement  and  long-continued  ap 
plause,  the  entire  vast  assemblage  rising  as  one  man  and  cheering 
for  some  minutes.  And  I  now  deliberately  repeat  and  reaffirm 
it,  resolved,  though  I  stand  alone,  though  all  others  yield  and 
fall  away,  to  make  it  good  to  the  last  moment  of  my  public  life. 
No  menace,  no  public  clamor,  no  taunts,  no  sneers  nor  foul  de 
traction  from  any  quarter  shall  drive  me  from  my  firm  purpose. 
Ours  is  a  government  of  opinion,  not  offeree — a  Union  offr.ee 
will,  not  arms;  and  coercion  is  civil  war — a  war  of  sections, a 
war  of  States,  waged  by  a  race  compounded  and  made  up  of  all 
other  races,  full  of  intellect,  of  courage,  of  will  unconquerable, 
and  when  set  on  fire  by  passion,  the  most  belligerent  and  most 
ferocious  on  the  globe — a  civil  war  full  of  horrors  which  no 
imagination  can  conceive  and  no  pen  portray.  If  Abraham  Lin 
coln  is  wise,  looking  truth  and  danger  full  in  the  face,  he  will 
take  counsel  of  the  '  old  men/  the  moderates  of  his  .party,  and 
advise  peace,  negotiation,  concession ;  but  if,  like  the  foolish  son 
of  the  wise  king,  he  reject  these  wholesome  counsels,  and  hearken 
only  to  the  madmen  who  threaten  chastisement  with  scorpions, 
let  him  see  to  it  lest  it  be  recorded  at  last  that  none  remained  to 
serve  him  ( save  the  house  of  Judah  only.'  At  least  if  he  will 
forget  the  secession  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  will  he  not  remember  and 
learn  a  lesson  of  wisdom  from  the  secession  of  the  Thirteen 
Colonies?" 

The  Presidential  election  of  1860  resulted  in  the  choice  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  the  whole  South  was  forthwith  stirred 
with  the  most  violent  excitement.  Secession  of  some,  if  not  all , 
of  the  Southern  States  became  imminent. 

Congress  met  in  second  session  on  the  3d  of  December. 
To  the  Democrats  of  the  Free  States  it  was  a  time  of  darkness 
and  discouragement.  For  years  they  had  been  predicting  that 
these  troubles  would  come  unless  the  slavery  agitation  should 
cease ;  but  their  predictions  were  disregarded,  and  they  themselves 
were  derisively  denounced  as  "Union-shriekers,"  as  "Union- 
savers."  They  sincerely  loved  the  Union,  and  had  struggled 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  143 

hard  • —  many  of  them  making  sacrifices  of  personal  feeling  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  and  of  their  political  prospects,  in 
order  to  maintain  the  bonds  of  brotherhood  between  the  North 
and  the  South.  But  now  it  seemed  their  labor  was  fruitless ;  the 
Union  was  about  to  be  dissolved,  and  they  were  filled  with 
sadness  and  gloom.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  Mr. 
Yallandigham.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  feeling,  of  intense 
earnestness,  and  could  not  but  be  powerfully  moved  by  the  dis 
turbed  and  threatening  condition  of  the  country.  The  Southern 
men  too  were  deeply  aifected.  They  had  made  up  their  minds 
to  depart,  but  they  looked  upon  it  as  a  constrained  departure. 
They  had  loved  the  Union  —  a  Union  formed  by  the  wisdom 
and  cemented  by  the  blood  of  their  fathers,  who  in  the  council- 
chamber  and  the  field  had,  with  their  brethren  of  the  North, 
diligently  labored  amid  trials  and  discouragements  till  this 
fair  fabric  of  government  stood  in  strength  and  beauty  before 
them.  How  could  they  look  with  indifference  upon  its  disso 
lution  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Republicans  were  comparatively 
calm  and  cheerful.  They  had  elected  their  President,  and  they 
would,  before  long,  accomplish  the  great  object  of  their  desire, 
the  abolition  of  Slavery.  They  did  not  believe  that  there 
was  any  danger  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union ;  and  even  if 
it  should  take  place,  better  that  than  the  perpetuation  of 
Slavery.  This  wTas  the  feeling  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
Republican  party.  No  Union  with  slaveholders  was  their  cry, 
and  the  removal  of  Slavery  or  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  was 
what  they  desired,  and  would  have  ultimately  demanded  — 
imperatively  demanded. 

Mr.  Vallandigham  now  felt  sure  that  a  secession  of  several 


144  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

of  the  States  would  take  place,  and  though  not  without  fear 
that  the  dissolution  might  be  perpetual,  he  still  hoped  for  res 
toration.  That  he  indulged  very  gloomy  apprehensions  in  re 
ference  to  the  future  of  the  country  is  manifest  from  a  letter  to 
his  wife,  dated  — 

"WASHINGTON  CITY,  Dec.  3,  1860. 

"  I  have  just  witnessed  the  assembling  of  the  last  Congress 
of  the  United  States  at  its  last  session.  It  was  a  solemn  scene, 
though  not  appreciated  as  it  will  be  viewed  by  posterity.  Most 
of  the  Republicans  looked  upon  it  as  the  beasts  look  upon  the 
starry  heavens  — '  with  brute  unconscious  gaze/  All  Southern 
men  and  the  Democrats  from  the  Free  States  sat  with  hearts 
full  of  gloom.  The  South  Carolina  members  —  almost  out  of 
the  Union,  and  here  now  for  a  few  days,  to  part  forever  it  may 
be  —  seemed  full  of  sorrow,  yet  accepting  their  destiny  as  one 
who  leaves  his  father's  house  never  to  return.  At  twelve 
o'clock  the  gavel  of  the  Speaker  silenced  every  hum  and  a 
stifling  silence  followed,  during  which  the  Chaplain,  Mr.  Stock 
ton,  with  hair  all  white,  made  a  solemn  and  impressive  prayer ; 
then  followed  the  calling  of  the  roll  and  the  swearing  in  of  a 
few  new  members.  In  the  midst  of  all  the  solemnity  of  the 

occasion, moved  to  take  up  the  Homestead  Bill ! 

Poor  fellow!  he  knew  no  better.  But  the  House  preferred 
to  adjourn,  after  quietly  going  through  the  farce  of  drawing  for 
seats. 

"  And  thus  has  ended  the  3d  day  of  December,  i860  !  It 
has  passed  into  history  as  did  the  melancholy  sixth  of  Novem 
ber  —  dies  irae  —  the  antithesis  of  the  4th  of  July  —  a  day  of 
tribulation  and  anguish  —  the  saddest  day  I  ever  passed.  They 
who  some  centuries  hence  shall  read  the  history  of  these  times, 
will  be  amazed  at  the  folly  and  blindness  of  us  who  live  and 
act  now  ;  but  they  will  be  as  blind  and  as  foolish  in  the  things 
of  their  own  day  and  generation. 

"  When  the  secession  has  taken  place,  I  shall  do  all  in  my 
power  first  to  restore  the  Union,  if  it  be  possible ;  and  failing 
in  that,  then  to  mitigate  the  evils  of  disruption. 

"  Well  in  body,  but  with  a  mind  oppressed  with  the  magni 
tude  of  impending  events,  full  of  evil  through  all  coming  time, 
I  am/'  &c. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  145 

On  the  4th  of  December,  a  member  from  Virginia  moved 
that  a  committee  of  thirty-three,  one  from  each  State,  be  ap 
pointed  to  consider  and  report  upon  the  perilous  condition  of 
the  country.  Mr.  Yallandigham  voted  for  the  motion,  be 
cause,  as  he  remarked,  it  was  an  expedient,  and  though  totally 
inadequate,  he  was  willing  to  support  any  and  every  expedient, 
trusting  that  something  might  be  yet  done  to  avert  the  im 
pending  dangers.  Mr.  Hawkins,  of  Florida,  being  named  one 
of  the  committee,  moved  to  be  excused.  A  debate  followed, 
and  Mr,  Vallandigham  spoke  briefly  but  earnestly  in  protest 
against  the  composition  of  the  committee,  criticising  it  also 
as  too  numerous,  and  therefore  discordant  and  slow,  and 
asking  what  kind  of  conciliation  and  compromise  that  was 
which  began  by  forcing  a  member  to  serve  upon  a  committee 
raised  for  the  very  purpose  of  peace  ?  He  spoke  also  earnestly 
in  defence  of  the  Northwest.  The  following  are  extracts : — 

"  But  I  repeat,  Sir,  there  is  not  upon  your  committee  one 
solitary  Representative  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  of  that 
mighty  host,  numbering  one  million  six  hundred  thousand 
men,  which  for  so  many  years  has  stood  as  a  vast  breakwater 
against  the  winds  and  waves  of  sectionalism,  and  upon  whose 
constituent  elements  at  least  this  country  must  still  so  much 
depend  in  the  great  events  which  are  thronging  thick  upon  us, 
for  all  hope  of  preservation  now  or  of  restoration  hereafter. 
Sir,  is  any  man  here  insane  enough  to  imagine  for  a  moment 
that  this  great  Northern  and  Western  Democracy,  constituting 
an  essential  part,  and  by  far  the  most  numerous  part,  of  that 
great  Democratic  party  which  for  a  half  a  century  moulded  the 
policy  and  controlled  the  destinies  of  this  Republic ;  that  party 
which  gave  to  the  country  some  of  the  brightest  jewels  of 
which  she  boasts ;  that  party  which  placed  upon  your  statute- 
books  every  important  measure  of  enduring  legislation  from 
the  beginning  of  the  Government  to  this  day  —  that  such  a 
section  of  such  a  party  is  to  be  thus  utterly  ignored,  insulted, 

10 


146  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  thrust  aside  as  of  no  value  ?  I  tell  you,  you  mistake  the 
character  of  the  men  you  have  to  deal  with.  We  are  in  a 
minority  indeed,  to-day,  at  the  ballot-box ;  and  we  bow  quietly 
now  to  the  popular  will  thus  expressed.  We  are  defeated,  but 
not  conquered ;  and  he  is  a  fool  in  the  wisdom  of  this  world 
who  thinks  that  in  the  midst  of  the  stirring  and  revolutionary 
tunes  which  are  upon  us,  these  sixteen  hundred  thousand  men, 
born  free  and  now  the  equals  of  their  brethren  —  men  whose 
every  pulse  throbs  with  the  spirit  of  liberty — will  tamely 
submit  to  be  degraded  to  inferiority  and  reduced  to  political 
servitude.  Never,  never  while  there  is  but  one  man  left  to 
strike  a  blow  at  the  oppressor. 

"  Sir,  we  love  this  Union ;  and  more  than  that,  we  obey  the 
Constitution.  We  are  here  a  gallant  little  band  of  less  than 
thirty  men,  but  representing  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of 
freemen.  We  are  here  to  maintain  the  Constitution,  which 
makes  the  Union,  and  to  exact  and  yield  that  equality  of  rights 
which  makes  the  Constitution  worth  maintaining.  We  are 
ready  to  do  all  and  to  suffer  all  in  the  cause  of  our  —  thank 
God  ! — yet  common  country;  and  by  no  vote  or  speech  or  act 
of  ours,  here  or  elsewhere,  shall  anything  be  done  to  defile,  or 
impair,  or  to  overthrow  this  the  grandest  temple  of  human 
liberty  ever  erected  in  any  age.  But  we  demand  to  worship  at 
the  very  foot  of  the  altar ;  and  not,  as  servants  or  inferiors,  in 
the  outer  courts  of  the  edifice. 

"  Sir,  ice  of  the  Northwest  have  a  deeper  interest  in  the  pre 
servation  of  this  Government  in  its  present  form  than  any  other 
section  of  the  Union.  Hemmed  in,  isolated,  cut  off  from  the 
seaboard  upon  every  side:  a  thousand  miles  and  more  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  the  free  navigation  of  which  under 
the  law  of  nations  we  demand,  and  will  have  at  every  cost; 
with  nothing  else  but  our  great  inland  seas,  the  lakes  —  and 
their  outlet,  too,  through  a  foreign  country  —  what  is  to  be  our 
destiny  ?  Sir,  we  have  fifteen  hundred  miles  of  southern  fron 
tier,  and  but  a  little  narrow  strip  of  eighty  miles  or  less  from 
Virginia  to  Lake  Erie  bounding  us  upon  the  east.  Ohio  is  the 
isthmus  that  connects  the  South  with  the  British  Possessions, 
and  the  East  with  the  West.  The  Rocky  Mountains  separate 
us  from  the  Pacific.  Where  is  to  be  our  outlet  ?  What  are  we 
to  do  when  you  shall  have  broken  up  and  destroyed  this  Gov 
ernment?  We  are  seven  States  now,  with  fourteen  Senators 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  147 

and  fifty-one  Kepresentatives,  and  a  population  of  nine  millions. 
We  have  an  empire  equal  in  area  to  the  third  of  all  Europe, 
and  ice  do  not  mean  to  be  a  dependency  or  province  either  of  the 
East  or  of  the  South ;  nor  yet  an  interior  or  second-rate  power 
upon  this  continent ;  and  if  we  cannot  secure  a  maritime  bound 
ary  upon  other  terms,  we  will  cleave  our  way  to  the  sea-coast 
with  the  sword.  A  nation  of  warriors  we  may  be;  a  tribe  of 
shepherds  never." 

He  closed  with  a  solemn  warning  that  the  time  was  short 
and  the  danger  imminent,  and  that  standing  in  the  forum  of 
history,  acting  in  the  eye  of  posterity,  all  duties  should  be  dis 
charged  instantly  and  aright,  if  we  would  be  — 

• 

"  Medicined  to  that  sweet  sleep 
Which  yesterday  we  owed." 

The  House  refused  to  excuse  Mr.  Hawkins ;  but  he  did  not 
serve.  It  was  in  this  debate  that  Mr.  Sickles  repeated  sub 
stantially  Mr.  Vallandigham's  declaration  against  supporting  a 
civil  war,  pledging  that  no  man  should  ever  pass  through  the 
city  of  New  York  to  coerce  a  seceded  State,  and  threatening 
that  that  city  would  assert  her  own  independence.  Mr. 
Sickles  said : — 

"  The  country  has  been  fatally  deceived,  and  some  of  these 
illusions  possess  us  even  now.  One  of  them  is  that  this  Union 
can  be  preserved  by  force.  .  .  .  Yet  when  the  call  for  force 
romes  —  let  it  come  whence  it  may  —  no  man  will  ever  pass 
the  boundaries  of  the  city  of  New  York  for  the  purpose  of 
waging  war  against  any  State  of  this  Union  which,  through  its 
constituted  authorities  and  sustained  by  the  voice  of  its  people, 
solemnly  declares  that  its  rights,  its  interests,  and  its  honor  de 
mand  that  it  should  seek  safety  in  a  separate  existence.  ...  I 
simply  mean  to  discharge  my  duty  in  endeavoring  to  contri 
bute  something  towards  dispelling  the  hallucination  that  exist* 
in  many  places  —  yes,  Sir,  in  distinguished  places  —  that  the 
Union  is  to  be  preserved  by  armies.  Sir,  the  Union  can  be 
made  perpetual  by  justice,  but  it  cannot  be  maintained  an  in 
stant  by  force/' 


148     LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

Such  were  the  sentiments  of  the  Hon.  Daniel  Sickles, 
uttered  on  the  floor  of  Congress  on  the  10th  of  December,  1860. 
He  recanted  and  became  a  Major-General :  Mr.  Vallandigham 
made  his  declaration  good,  and  was  driven  into  exile.  But  in 
proud  conscientiousness  he  could  exclaim  in  Congress,  after 
two  years  of  desolating  and  disastrous  war,  "To-day  I  bless 
God  that  not  the  smell  of  so  much  as  one  drop  of  its  blood  is 
upon  my  garments." 

About  the  middle  of  December  a  large  meeting  of  Senators 
and  representatives  from  the  fourteen  Free  and  Slave  States 
on  each  side  of  the  border  was  held  for  mutual  consultation  as 
to  their  interests  in  the  Union,  and  to  devise,  if  possible,  some 
plan  by  which  the  differences  between  the  two  sections  might  be 
settled.  The  number  present  was  about  seventy-five.  Senator 
Crittenden  presided,  and  Mr.  Colfax  of  Indiana,  and  Mr. 
Barrett  of  Missouri,  were  appointed  secretaries. 

A  number  of  propositions  were  submitted  to  the  meeting. 

Mr.  Vallandigham  proposed  the  Crittenden  resolutions. 
After  considerable  discussion,  the  several  propositions  sub 
mitted  were  referred  to  a  committee  of  fourteen,  one  from 
each  State  represented,  who  were  directed  to  report  to  a  future 
meeting,  to  be  called  by  them  as  soon  as  they  should  agree 
upon  a  basis  of  settlement. 

About  this  time  a  number  of  prominent  gentlemen,  prin 
cipally  of  the  Border  States,  believing  that  a  disruption  of  the 
Union  was  inevitable,  conceived  the  idea  of  a  "  Central  Con 
federacy,"  to  be  composed  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Dela 
ware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  North  Caro 
lina,  and  Missouri,  together  with  the  Northwest.  They  con 
sulted  Mr.  Yallandigham.  His  reply  was  that  it  would  make 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  149 

a  "  noble  Republic,"  but  he  would  favor  no  scheme  of  division 
whatever  so  long  as  there  was  any  "  hope  of  saving  the 
present  Union." 

On  the  20th  of  December,  Senator  Pugh  of  Ohio  spoke 
against  coercion  in  a  powerful  and  eloquent  speech ;  and  at  a 
serenade  given  in  his  honor  on  the  evening  of  the  22d,  Mr. 
Vallandigham  was  called  out.  We  give  a  brief  extract  from 
his  speech  :— 

"  To-night  you  are  here  to  endorse  the  great  policy  of  con 
ciliation,  not  force ;  peace,  not  civil  war.  The  desire  nearest 
the  heart  of  every  patriot  in  this  crisis  is  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  of  these  States  as  our  fathers  made  it.  [Applause.] 
But  the  Union  can  be  preserved  only  by  maintaining  the  Con 
stitution,  and  the  constitutional  rights,  and  above  all,  the  per 
fect  equality  of  every  State  and  every  section  of  this  confede 
racy.  [Cheers.]  That  Constitution  was  made  in  peace ;  it  has, 
for  now  more  than  seventy  years,  been  preserved  by  the  policy 
of  peace  at  home,  and  it  can  alone  be  maintained  for  our  chil 
dren,  and  their  children  after  them,  by  that  same  peace  policy. 

"  We  mean  to  stand  by  it.  Public  sentiment  may,  indeed, 
at  first  be  against  us  the  tide  may  run  heavily  the  other  way 
for  a  little  while ;  but  thank  God,  we  all  have  nerve  enough, 
and  will  enough,  and  faith  enough  in  the  people  to  know  that 
at  last  it  will  turn  for  peace ;  and  though  we  may  be  prostrated 
for  a  time  by  the  storm,  yet  upon  the  gravestone  of  every  pat 
riot  who  shall  die  now  in  the  cause  of  peace  and  humanity  and 
the  country,  shall  be  written  'Resurgam ' —  I  shall  rise  again. 
And  it  will  be  a  glorious  resurrection.  [Loud  and  continued 
applause.] 

"  Fellow-citizens,  I  am  all  over  and  altogether  a  Union  man. 
I  would  preserve  it  in  all  its  integrity  and  worth.  But  I  re 
peat  that  this  cannot  be  done  by  coercion — by  the  sword." 

Some  time  in  this  month  Mr.  Vallandigham  visited  Rich 
mond,  Virginia,  invited  to  that  city  for  the  purpose  of  deliver 
ing  a  lecture  before  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 


150  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

The  following  notice  of  his  visit  and  lecture  we  take  from  the 
Richmond  Enquirer: — 

"  THE  HON.  C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM,  OF  OHIO. — This  dis 
tinguished  Representative  from  the  State  of  Ohio,  visited  Rich 
mond  in  compliance  with  an  invitation  to  lecture  before  the 
Yon^g  Men's  Christian  Association.  The  lecture  was  attended 
by  the  largest  audience  that  has  ever  assembled  at  these  lectures 
in  Richmond ;  a  well-deserved  compliment  to  the  ability  and 
constitutional  conservatism  that  has  always  characterised  the 
public  life  of  Mr.  Vallandigham.  The  President  of  the  As 
sociation,  in  introducing  Mr.  Vallandigham,  alluded  to  him  as 
'a  patriotic  and  eloquent  son  of  a  Virginia  sire/  to  which  Mr. 
V.  responded  in  substance  as  follows  : — 

" t  Virginians : —  I  thank  the  President  of  your  Association 
for  his  kindly  allusion,  and  I  thank  you  all  for  the  cordial 
manner  in  which  the  papers  of  your  capital  have  spoken  of  me 
this  morning.  I  am,  indeed,  the  representative  in  Congress  of 
a  State,  the  dominant  party  of  which  has  unhappily  given  but 
too  just  cause  for  distrust  and  alarm  to  Virginia ;  yet  that  State 
is  the  first-born  daughter  of  your  Commonwealth,  and  I  beg  to 
assure  you  that  it  is  not  they  among  us  of  Virginia  blood  who 
have  ever  sought  to  wound  or  to  harm  their  honored  mother. 
Here  in  your  midst  I  am  myself  at  home,  having  an  inherit 
ance  in  this  the  Ancient  Dominion  by  a  title  of  a  hundred 
and  sixty  years'  descent,  and  cherishing  towards  her  still  the 
fondest  feelings  of  filial  affection,  mellowed  and  subdued  now 
to  the  love  which  one  feels  towards  the  mother  of  her  who 
bore  him.  "  The  parted  bosom  clings  to  wonted  home,"  and  I 
trust  the  day  is  far  distant  when  Virginia  shall  shut  her  doors 
against  her  exiled  children,  or  their  descendants  of  her  own 
kindred  and  blood/ 

"  The  lecture  was  one  of  great  ability  and  eloquence,  and 
was  received  by  the  audience  with  evident  satisfaction.  There 
is  no  man  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  who  has  at  all 
times  and  under  all  circumstances  maintained  the  rights  and 
interests  of  his  own  section  with  such  full  justice  to  all  the  rights 
of  the  South,  as  Mr.  Vallandigham" 

On  the  24th  of  December  he  wrote  thus  to  his  wife : — 

"  .  .  .  .  To-morrow  will  be  Christinas  day,  and  I  am  home- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  151 

sick,  and  heart-sick  too.  I  see  110  hope  even  of  peace,  much 
less  of  adjustment  of  difficulties.  Every  day  proves  still  more 
clearly  that  it  is  the  fixed  purpose  of  the  Republican  party  not 
only  to  refuse  all  compromise,  but  to  force  a  civil  war.  This 
sad  calamity  approaches  nearer  every  day,  and  I  see  no  way  to 
avert  it  here  before  the  4th  of  March,  though  I  hope  we  in  the 
West  shall  escape  it  a  little  while  longer.  If  we  can  only 
delay  hostilities  till  the  public  mind  shall  apprehend  the  reality 
of  the  dangers  which  surround  us,  and  what  civil  war  means, 
we,  I  am  sure,  could  avert  it.  Pugh's  was  a  great  speech  and 
has  done  much  good.  Our  ranche  was  serenaded  Saturday 
night  handsomely,  and  all  passed  off  well.  You  will  see  the 

proceedings  in  the  Star You  say  nothing  about  coming 

on  to  Cumberland  soon :  I  think  you  had  better  not  come  now. 
It  may  be  necessary  in  March  or  April  for  me  to  find  you  a 
place  of  safety  somewhere  in  the  mountains.  Keep  this  quiet, 
but  prepare  your  mind  for  it — though  I  still  hope  that  it  may 
not  be  necessary.  Be  brave.  I  am  very  well,  and  we  enjoy 
ourselves  here  in  our  ranche  mightily  together,  though  very 
quietly,  in  the  midst  of  the  storms  outside.  I  have  not  heard 
of  a  party,  a  reception,  or  a  dinner  yet ;  there  is  no  heart  here 
in  any  one  for  gayety.  We  spend  our  evenings  together  at 
home,  in  public  duties  sometimes,  sometimes  in  reviewing  and 
commenting  upon  the  ancient  and  modern  classics ;  and  thus 
with  a  fine  house,  good  table,  and  four  clever  fellows  (Charlie 
Martin  is  now  with  us)  we  are  as  '  happy  a  family  *  as  the  times 
will  admit.  The  concluding  toast  at  dinner  every  day  is  '  to 
our  absent  wives  and  children.'  But  we  would  gladly  spend 
one  day  a  week  at  least  at  home. 

"My  love  to  all.  Many  kisses  for  Charlie.  A  happy 
Christmas  to  you  all. 

"  Most  affectionately,"  &c. 

Mr.  Vallandigharn's  opposition  to  the  war  was  not  factious, 
as  many  persons  supposed  ;  he  sincerely  believed  that  it  would 
end  in  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  In  January,  1861,  though 
greatly  troubled  and  discouraged  at  the  condition  of  public 
affairs,  he  cherished  a  hope  that  war  might  be  averted.  His 
views  and  feelings  on  the  subject  are  disclosed  in  a  letter  to  his 
wife,  dated  — 


152  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  WASHINGTON  CITY,  January  27,  1861. 

"  ....  I  have  counted  up  the  time  and  find  it  now  about 
five  weeks  till  I  expect  to  be  home.  In  the  aggregate  of  a  life 
time  it  will  pass  but  too  quickly ;  but  it  seems  a  long  time  now. 
I  dreamed  of  being  at  home  this  morning.  I  went  into  my 
room,  and  just  as  I  opened  the  door,  my  dear  little  boy  wakened 
and  sprang  into  my  arms,  exclaiming  '  Here's  my  dear  blessed 
papa ! '  and  then  I  went  down  with  you  to  the  breakfast-table ; 
and  then  the  vision  grew  confused  and  dim,  and  I  awoke 
as  the  pilgrim  awoke,  '  and  lo !  it  was  a  dream/  I  wish  I  was 
at  home.  I  am  able  to  do  no  good  here — no  man  can;  so  I  sit, 
and  am  obliged  to  sit,  quiet  and  sorrowful,  condemned  as  one 
who  watches  over  the  couch  of  a  loved  mother  slowly  dying 
with  consumption,  to  see  my  country  perish  by  inches,  and 
without  the  power  to  save.  But  one  thing  we  have  gained  — 
there  will  be  no  war  now,  I  think ;  peace  for  the  present  has 
been  secured,  and  I  feel  that  I,  even  I,  have  done  a  great  ser 
vice  to  my  country.  Alone  among  public  men  of  the  Free  States 
I  took  my  position  early  in  November,  amidst  reproach  and  per 
secution  ;  and  even  when  we  met  here  on  the  3d  of  December, 
no  man  stood  by  me  except  Pendleton  and  Pugh.  We  three 
began  the  battle  for  peace;  and  now  already  Ohio,  Indiana  and 
Illinois  are  with  us  through  State  conventions  of  the  Democratic 
party.  Other  States  will  soon  follow,  and  in  a  little  while  the 
whole  people  will  demand  peace,  negotiation  and  the  restoration 
of  the  Union.  Before  God  I  believe  that  if  Pugh  and  myself  had 
not  placed  ourselves  in  the  breach,  this  country  would  have  been 
in  the  midst  of  a  civil  war  to-day.  I  feel  proudly  happy  at  this 
hour  that  I  did  something  to  prevent  it.  The  great  fight 
which  Pugh  and  I  made  in  the  Ohio  caucus  on  the  night  of  the 
17th  of  December,  1860,  saved  us  that  calamity — at  least  up 
to  this  point.  God  deliver  us  still  in  the  future  as  He  has  in 
the  past." 

On  the  7th  of  February,  1861,  Mr.  Vallandigham  intro 
duced  his  proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  providing 
for  a  division  of  the  States  into  four  sections  for  the  purpose  of 
voting  in  the  Senate  and  the  Electoral  College,  and  on  the  20th 
of  February  spoke  at  length  in  its  support.  The  following  are 
extracts :— 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  153 

"  Born,  Sir,  upon  the  soil  of  the  United  States,  attached  to 
my  country  from  earliest  boyhood ;  loving  and  revering  her, 
with  some  part  at  least,  of  the  spirit  of  Greek  and  Roman 
patriotism ;  between  these  two  alternatives,  with  all  my  mind, 
with  all  my  heart,  with  all  my  strength  of  body  and  of  soul, 
living  or  dying,  at  home  or  in  exile,  I  am  for  the  Union  which 
made  it  what  it  is ;  and  therefore  I  am  also  for  such  terms  of 
peace  and  adjustment  as  will  maintain  that  Union  now  and  for 
ever.  This,  then,  is  the  question  which  to-day  I  propose  to 
discuss : 

"How  shall  the  Union  of  these  States  be  restored  and 
preserved  ? 

"  Devoted  as  I  am  to  the  Union,  I  have  yet  no  eulogies  to 
pronounce  upon  it  to-day.  It  needs  none.  Its  highest  eulogy 
is  the  history  of  this  country  for  the  last  seventy  years.  The 
triumphs  of  war  and  the  arts  of  peace,  science,  civilisation, 
wealth,  population,  commerce,  trade,  manufactures,  literature, 
education,  justice,  tranquillity,  security  to  life,  to  person,  to 
property,  material  happiness,  common  defence,  national  renown, 
all  that  is  im-plied  in  the  blessings  of  liberty  —  these,  and 
more,  have  been  its  fruits  from  the  beginning  to  this  hour. 
These  have  enshrined  it  in  the  hearts  of  the  people;  and,  be 
fore  God,  I  believe  they  will  restore  and  preserve  it.  And  to 
day  they  demand  of  us,  embassadors  and  representatives,  to  tell 
them  how  this  great  work  is  to  be  accomplished.  .  .  . 

"  I  shall  vote  also  for  the  Crittenden  propositions,  as  an 
experiment,  and  only  as  an  experiment,  because  they  proceed 
upon  the  same  general  idea  which  marks  the  Adams  amend 
ment;  and  whereas,  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  the  Union,  the 
latter  would  give  a  new  security  to  slavery  in  the  States,  the 
former,  for  the  self-same  great  and  paramount  object  of  Union 
and  peace,  proposes  to  give  a  new  security  also  to  slavery  in  the 
Territories  south  of  the  latitude  36°  30'.  If  the  Union  is  worth 
the  price  which  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  volunteers 
to  pay  to  maintain  it,  is  it  not  richly  worth  the  small  addi 
tional  price  which  the  Senator^  from  Kentucky  demands  as  the 
possible  condition  of  preserving  it  ?  Sir,  it  is  the  old  parable 
of  the  Roman  sibyl ;  and  to-morrow  she  will  return  with  fewer 
volumes,  and  it  may  be  at  a  higher  price. 

"  I  shall  vote  to  try  the  Crittenden  propositions,  because, 
also,  I  believe  that  they  are  perhaps  the  least  which  even  the 


154  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

more  moderate  of  the  Slave  States  would  under  any'  circum 
stances  be  willing  to  accept;  and  because  North,  South,  and 
West  the  people  seem  to  have  taken  hold  of  them  and  to  demand 
them  of  us,  as  an  experiment  at  least.  I  am  ready  to  try,  also, 
if  need  be,  the  propositions  of  the  Border  State  Committee  or  of 
the  Peace  Congress,  or  any  other  fair,  honorable,  and  reasonable 
terms  of  adjustment  which  may  so  much  as  promise  even  to 
heal  our  present  troubles  and  to  restore  the  Union  of  these 
States.  Sir,  I  am  ready  and  willing  and  anxious  to  try  all 
things  and  to  do  all  things ''  which  may  become  a  man/  to 
secure  that  great  object  which  is  nearest  to  my  heart. 

"The  question,  therefore,  is  not  merely  what  will  keep  Vir 
ginia  in  the  Union,  but  also  what  will  bring  Georgia  back. 
And  here  let  me  say  that  I  do  not  doubt  that  there  is  a  large 
and  powerful  Union  sentiment  still  surviving  in  all  the  States 
which  have  seceded,  South  Carolina  alone  perhaps  excepted ; 
and  that  if  the  people  of  those  States  can  be  assured  that  they 
shall  have  the  power  to  protect  themselves  by  their  own  action 
within  the  Union,  they  will  gladly  return  to  it,  very  greatly  pre 
ferring  protection  within  to  security  outside  of  it.  Just  now, 
indeed,  the  fear  of  danger,  and  your  persistent  and  obstinate 
refusal  to  enable  them  to  guard  against  it,  have  delivered  the 
people  of  those  States  over  into  the  hands  and  under  the  con 
trol  of  the  real  secessionists  and  disunionists  among  them ;  but 
give  them  security  and  the  means  of  enforcing  it ;  above  all, 
dry  up  this  pestilent  fountain  of  slavery  agitation  as  a  political 
element  in  both  sections,  and,  my  word  for  it,  the  ties  of  a  com 
mon  ancestry,  a  common  kindred,  and  common  language ;  the 
bonds  of  a  common  interest,  common  danger,  and  common 
safety ;  the  recollections  of  the  past,  and  of  associations  not  yet 
dissolved,  and  the  bright  hopes  of  a  future  to  all  of  us,  more 

§lorious  and  resplendent  than  any  other  country  ever  saw ;  ay, 
ir,  and  visions  too  of  that  old  flag  of  the  Union,  and  of  the 
music  of  the  Union,  and  precious  memories  of  the  statesmen 
and  heroes  of  the  dark  days  of  the  Eevolution,  will  fill  their 
souls  yet  again  with  yearnings  and  desires  intense  for  the 
glories,  the  honors,  and  the  material  benefits  too  of  that 
Union  which  their  fathers  and  our  fathers  made ;  and  they  will 
return  to  it,  not  as  the  prodigal,  but  with  songs  and  rejoicing, 
as  the  Hebrews  returned  from  the  captivity  to  the  ancient  city 
of  their  kings." 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  155 

Referring  to  secession,  Mr.  V.  said : — 

"Sir,  the  experiment  may  readily  be  repeated.  It  will  be 
repeated.  And  is  it  not  madness  and  folly,  then,  to  call  back, 
by  adjustment,  the  States  which  have  seceded,  or  to  hold  back 
the  States  which  are  threatening  to  secede,  without  providing 
some  safeguard  against  the  renewal  of  this  most  simple  and  dis 
astrous  experiment  ?  Can  foreign  nations  have  any  confidence 
hereafter  in  the  stability  of  a  Government  which  may  so  readily, 
speedily  and  quietly  be  dissolved  ?  Can  we  have  any  con 
fidence  among  ourselves  ?  " 

Quoting  Jefferson's  saying  in  1820  that  his  only  consolation 
in  view  of  disunion  was  that  he  would  not  live  to  weep  over 
it,  Mr.  Y.  exclaimed : — 

"Fortunate  man!  he  did  not  live  to  weep  over  it.  To 
day  he  sleeps  quietly  beneath  the  soil  of  his  own  Monticello, 
unconscious  that  the  mighty  fabric  of  Government  which  he 
helped  to  rear  —  a  Government  whose  foundations  were  laid  by 
the  hands  of  so  many  patriots  and  sages,  and  cemented  by  the 
blood  of  so  many  martyrs  and  heroes  —  hastens  now,  day  by 
day,  to  its  fall.  What  recks  he,  or  that  other  great  man,  his 
compeer,  fortunate  in  life  and  opportune  alike  in  death,  whose 
dust  they  keep  at  Quincy,  of  those  dreadful  notes  of  prepara 
tion  in  every  State  for  civil  strife  and  fraternal  carnage ;  or  of 
that  martial  array  which  already  has  changed  this  once  peaceful 
capital  into  a  beleaguered  city?  Fortunate  men!  they  died 
while  the  Constitution  yet  survived,  while  the  spirit  of  frater 
nal  affection  still  lived,  and  the  love  of  true  American  liberty 
lingered  yet  in  the  hearts  of  their  descendants." 

In  answer  to  a  gross  telegraphic  misrepresentation  of  this 
proposition,  Mr.  Y.  explained  and  defended  it  in  a  card  to  the 
Cincinnati  Enquirer,  dated  February  14,  1861,  as  follows : — 

"  My  proposition  looks  solely  to  the  restoration  and  mainten 
ance  of  the  Union  forever,  by  suggesting  a  mode  of  voting  in 
the  United  States  Senate  and  the  Electoral  Colleges,  by  which 
the  causes  which  have  led  to  our  present  troubles  may  in  the 


156  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

future  be  guarded  against  without  secession  and  disunion;  and 
also  the  agitation  of  the  Slavery  question  as  an  element  in  our 
national  politics  be  forever  hereafter  arrested.  My  object —  the 
sole  motive  by  which  I  have  been  guided  from  the  beginning 
of  this  most  fatal  revolution  —  is  to  MAINTAIN  THE  UNION, 
and  not  destroy  it.  When  all  possible  hope  is  gone,  and  the 
Union  irretrievably  broken,  then,  but  not  till  then,  I  will  be 
for  a  Western  Confederacy." 

As  has  been  already  intimated,  these  propositions  were  grossly 
misrepresented.  Mr.  "Vallandigham  had  prepared  in  advance 
an  abstract  of  them  for  the  telegraphic  agent  of  the  Associated 
Press  at  the  capital,  who  transmitted  it  correctly  to  the  Eastern 
papers ;  but  at  Philadelphia  the  knavish  agent  of  the  Associ 
ation  telegraphed  it  to  the  Western  press  as  a  proposition  to 
divide  the  United  States  into  four  separate  republics.  Mr. 
Vallandigham  demanded  a  correction,  but  the  perversion  was 
only  repeated  in  a  form  still  more  false.  This  was  but  the 
beginning  of  that  persistent  and  aggravated  misrepresentation 
in  every  form,  by  telegraph  as  well  as  otherwise,  to  which  for 
years  he  was  subjected.  These  propositions  were  amendments 
only  to  the  existing  Constitution.  They  proposed  sections 
within  the  Union ;  not  distinct  nationalities  or  republics  outside 
of  it.  The  preamble  itself  recites,  as  the  purpose  of  the  pro 
positions,  that  "  it  concerned  the  peace  and  stability  of  the 
Federal  Union  and  Government  that  a  division  of  the  States 
into  mere  slaveholding  and  non-slaveholding  sections — causing 
hitherto,  and  from  the  nature  and  necessity  of  the  case,  in 
flammatory  and  disastrous  controversies  upon  the  subject  of 
Slavery,  ending  already  in  present  disruption  of  the  Union  — 
should  be  forever  hereafter  ignored."  So  far  as  any  suggestion 
has  ever  been  made  respecting  a  possible  future  division  of  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  157 

American  Republic  "  into  four  distinct  nationalities/7  it  came 
from  the  pen  of  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  who  even  went  so  far 
as  to  name  the  probable  capitals  of  three  of  the  nationalities. 

At  the  time  this  speech  was  delivered,  the  voice  of  nearly 
the  whole  country  was  decidedly  for  peace.  At  the  opening  of 
the  session  Mr.  Vallandigham  had  found  himself  almost  alone 
against  "  coercion/7  but  in  February  the  sentiment  had  greatly 
changed  both  in  Congress  and  out  of  it.  Immediate  danger  of 
civil  war  seemed  to  have  passed  by;  yet  satisfied  that  all 
hope  of  present  adjustment  was  at  an  end,  and  separation  or 
disunion  an  existing,  though  as  he  hoped  a  temporary  fact,  he 
spoke  chiefly  in  review  of  the  more  remote  and  hidden  but  real 
causes  which  had  led  to  the  crisis,  and  from  these  sought  to 
deduce  the  true  nature  of  the  searching  and  decisive  remedies 
which  he  believed  essential.  But  in  the  whirlwind  of  the 
hour,  neither  the  House  nor  the  country  was  in  a  temper  to 
hear  philosophy,  and  the  speech  attracted  then  no  part  of  the 
attention  which  it  has  since  received.  It  was  appropriately 
entitled  in  the  pamphlet  edition  published  at  the  time,  "  The 
Great  American  Revolution  of  1861," — a  revolution  which  he 
pronounced  "the  grandest  and  the  saddest  of  modern  times." 

On  the  27th  of  February  the  House  proceeded  to  vote  on 
the  various  compromise  propositions  before  it.  Mr.  Kellogg, 
of  Illinois,  had  submitted  a  proposition  similar  to  the  Missouri 
Compromise  of  1820,  but  to  be  embodied  in  the  Constitution. 
It  was  rejected,  yeas  33,  nays  158.  All  the  yeas  were  Demo 
crats  and  Constitutional  Union  men,  except  Mr.  Kellogg  him 
self.  Mr.  Vallandigham  voted  for  the  proposition. 

The  question  then  recurred  on  the  "Crittenden  Proposi 
tions,"  offered  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Clemens,  of  Virginia.  It 


158  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

was  these  propositions  which  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Toombs  both 
declared  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  South  and  avert  secession. 
They  were  rejected  by  a  vote  of  yeas  80,  nays  113,  every 
Democrat  and  Southern  man,  except  Hindman,  of  Arkansas, 
voting  for  them,  and  every  Eepublican  without  one  single 
exception  voting  against  them.  Mr.  Vallandigham  voted  for 
them. 

Of  the  eighty  who  voted  for  compromise,  nineteen  were 
afterwards  in  either  the  Federal  or  the  Confederate  army ;  while 
of  the  one  hundred  and  thirteen  who  voted  against  compro 
mise,  only  six — one  of  them  being  Hindman,  who  became  a 
Confederate  General.  The  other  five  were  in  the  Federal 
army.  Had  this  compromise  been  adopted  by  Congress,  seces 
sion  would  not  have  taken  place,  the  civil  war  would  not 
have  occurred. 

Mr.  Yallandigham  voted  not  only  for  the  Crittenden  Com 
promise  propositions,  but  for  all  others  which,  in  his  own  lan 
guage,  "  so  much  as  promised  even  to  heal  our  troubles  and  to 
restore  the  Union  of  the  States."  But  he  voted  also  steadily, 
in  common  with  nearly  the  whole  body  of  the  Democratic  and 
Conservative  members,  against  the  Force  Bill  and  all  other 
measures  of  coercion,  believing  that  threats  would  avail  nothing 
to  intimidate  the  seceded  States,  while  justice  and  fair  compro 
mise  would  satisfy  the  vast  majority  of  their  people. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  inaug 
urated.  His  address  declared  the  "  Chicago  Platform  "  a  law 
unto  him ;  but  for  some  weeks  the  peace  policy  prevailed. 
Fort  Sumpter  was  to  be  evacuated.  The  country  acquiesced. 
The  Republican  press  pronounced  it  wise  —  "a  master-stroke 
of  policy."  He  himself  said  in  the  inaugural : —  "  Suppose  you 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  159 

go  to  war,  you  cannot  fight  always ;  and  when  after  much  loss 
on  both  sides  and  no  gain  on  either  you  cease  fighting,  the  iden 
tical  old  questions  as  to  terms  of  intercourse  are  again  upon 
you." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  returned  home  in  March,  trusting  that 
peace  at  least  might  be  for  the  present  maintained.  On  the 
15th  of  that  month,  Mr.  Douglass,  who  during  the  early  part  of 
the  second  session  had  inclined  strongly  towards  coercion, 
made  his  memorable  speech*  the  most  statesmanlike  of  his  life, 
declaring  "  War  is  disunion ;  war  is  final,  eternal  separation." 
But  the  necessities,  if  not  the  purposes  of  the  Administration 
and  of  the  Republican  party,  required  civil  war,  and  they  found 
means  to  precipitate  it.  A  fleet  was  sent  to  reinforce  Fort 
Surnpter.  South  Carolina  fired  on  the  fort  and  compelled  its 
surrender.  The  President  issued  his  proclamation  of  the  15th 
of  April,  calling  out  seventy-five  thousand  militia,  and  in  a  mo 
ment  the  whole  country  was  wrapped  in  the  flames  of  the  most 
terrible  civil  war  ever  waged  in  any  age  or  country. 

Mr.  Yallandigham  did  not  hesitate  for  one  moment  to 
maintain  his  position.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  realise  the 
howl  of  denunciation  which  forthwith  was  raised  against  him, 
or  the  ridiculous  and  preposterous  reports —  among  others  that 
his  house  had  been  destroyed  and  that  he  himself  had  fled  — 
which  were  circulated.  He  noticed  them  in  the  following 
card:  — 

"DAYTON,  OHIO,  Wednesday,  April  17. 
"  To  the  Editor  of  the  Enquirer: 

"  I  have  a  word  for  the  Republican  press  and  partisans  of 
Cincinnati  and  other  places  abroad,  who  now  daily  falsify  and 
misrepresent  me  and  matters  which  concern  me  here  in  Dayton. 


160  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"My  position  in  regard  to  this  civil  war,  which  the  Lincoln 
Administration  has  inaugurated,  was  long  since  taken,  is  well 
known,  and  will  be  adhered  to  to  the  end.  Let  that  be  under 
stood.  I  have  added  nothing  to  it,  subtracted  nothing  from 
it,  said  nothing  about  it  publicly,  since  the  war  began.  I  know 
well  that  I  am  right,  and  that  in  a  little  while  '  the  sober 
second  thought  of  the  people '  will  dissipate  the  present  sudden 
and  fleeting  public  madness,  and  will  demand  to  know  why 
thirty  millions  of  people  are  butchering  each  other  in  civil  Avar, 
and  will  arrest  it  speedily.  ...  As  to  myself:  no  threats  have 
been  made  to  me  personally ;  none  within  my  hearing ;  no  vio 
lence  offered ;  no  mob  anywhere ;  none  will  be,  nobody  afraid 
of  any,  and  every  statement  or  rumor  in  regard  to  me  circu 
lated  orally,  or  published  in  the  Republican  press,  is  basely 
idle  and  false.  And  now  let  me  add,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
cowardly  slanderers  of  Cincinnati  or  elsewhere  who  libel  me 
daily,  that  if  they  have  any  business  with  me,  I  can  be  found 
every  day  at  any  time,  either  at  home,  on  the  north-west  corner 
of  First  and  Ludlow,  or  upon  the  streets  of  Dayton. 

"  C.  L.  VALLAKDIGHAM." 

Some  days  later  he  wrote  two  strictly  private  letters  to  a 
gentleman  in  Cincinnati,  who,  having  been  arrested  for  treason 
upon  a  judicial  warrant  a  few  months  afterwards,  was  tried 
before  a  United  States  Commissioner,  the  sole  proof  against 
him  being  the  production  of  these  letters.  He  was  acquitted. 
The  letters,  very  brief,  contain  not  anything  of  note,  except 
that  they  suggest  a/ear  or  apprehension  (common  to  almost  all 
men  before  that  time)  that  war  being  disunion,  nothing  re 
mained  but  separation.  But  they  do  not  express  desire  or  wish, 
or  anything  similar,  for  disunion.  On  the  contrary,  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  distinctly  says  that  "he  would  watch  the  first  favor 
able  chance  to  move  publicly  for  peace  and  restoration." 

During  the  latter  part  of  April  and  the  months  of  May  and 
June,  as  also  for  many  months  afterwards,  at  Washington,  in 
his  journeyings  and  at  home,  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  exposed 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  161 

day  and  night  to  imminent  danger  of  personal  harm  or  death. 
Even  his  assassination  was  publicly  invited  by  men  holding 
responsible  official  positions  under  the  Administration.  In  his 
own  language,  "  he  carried  his  life  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand." 
His  dauntless  courage  and  the  fact  well  known  that  he  always 

went  thoroughly  armed,  no  doubt  in  a  measure  protected  him. 

• 

On  the  3d  of  May  the  proclamation  of  the  President  call 
ing  out  volunteers,  and  increasing  the  regular  army  and  the 
navy  without  Act  of  Congress,  was  issued.  It  was  a  bold  and 
most  dangerous  usurpation,  which,  if  submitted  to  without  re 
monstrance,  could  end  only  in  the  final  subversion  of  the  Con 
stitution  in  every  part.  Mr.  Vallandigham  immediately  issued 
a  private  circular,  addressed  to  some  twenty  or  more  of  the 
most  prominent  Democratic  politicians  of  the  State,  proposing 
a  conference  at  Chillicothe  on  the  15th  of  the  month,  to  concert 
measures  to  arouse  the  people  to  a  sense  of  the  danger  which 
was  so  imminent  from  the  bold  conspiracy  to  usurp  all  power 
into  the  hands  of  the  Executive,  and  thus  to  "  rescue  the  Re 
public  from  an  impending  military  despotism."  But  four 
answers  were  received ;  three  favorable,  and  one  adverse  to  the 
conference.  It  was  not  held. 

On  the  9th  of  May,  Messrs.  Richard  H.  Hendrickson,  1ST. 
G.  Oglesby,  John  McClellan,  and  others,  his  constituents,  ad 
dressed  him  a  letter  requesting  his  opinion  on  certain  points 
connected  with  the  war.  To  this  he  replied  on  the  13th.  He 
first  quoted  from  the  speech  of  the  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglass 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  March  15,  1861  :— 

"  Sir,  the  history  of  the  world  does  not  fail  to  condemn  the 
folly,  weakness,  and  wickedness  of  that  Government  which  drew 
its  swond  upon  its  own  people  when  they  demanded  guarantees  for 

11 


162  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

their  rights.  This  cry,  that  we  must  have  a  Government,  is 
merely  following  the  example  of  the  besotted  Bourbon,  who 
never  learned  anything  by  misfortune,  never  forgave  an  injury, 
never  forgot  an  affront.  Must  we  demonstrate  that  we  have 
got  a  Government,  and  coerce  obedience  without  reference  to 
the  justice  or  injustice  of  the  complaints?  Sir,  whenever  ten 
million  people  proclaim  to  you,  with  one  unanimous  voice,  that 
they  apprehend  their  rights,  their  firesides,  and  their  family 
altars  dre  in  danger,  it  becomes  a  wise  Government  to  listen  to 
the  appeal  and  to  remove  the  apprehension.  History  does  not 
record  an  example  wJiere  any  human  Government  has  been  strong 
enough  to  crush  ten  millions  of  people  into  subjection  when  they 
believed  their  rights  and  liberties  were  imperilkd,  without  first  con 
verting  the  Government  itself  into  a  despotism,  and  destroying  the 
last  vestige  of  freedom." 

Having  quoted  the  above  and  several  other  paragraphs  from 
that  speech,  he  says :  — 

"Those  wrere  the  sentiments  of  the  Democratic  party,  of  the 
Constitutional  Union  Party,  and  of  a  large  majority  of  the  Ee- 
publicaii  presses  and  party,  only  six  weeks  ago.  They  were 
mine :  I  voted  them  repeatedly  along  with  every  Democrat  and 
Union  man  in  the  House.  I  have  seen  nothing  to  change, 
much  to  confirm  them  since ;  especially  in  the  secession,  within 
the  last  thirty  days,  of  Virginia,  Arkansas,  North  Carolina, 
and  Tennessee,  taking  with  them  four  millions  and  a  half  of 
people,  immense  wealth,  inexhaustible  resources,  five  hundred 
thousand  fighting  men,  and  the  grave  of  Washington  and  of 
JacJcson.  I  shall  vote  them  again. 

"  Waiving  the  question  of  the  doubtful  legality  of  the  fijrst 
proclamation  of  April  15th,  calling  on  the  militia  for  '  three 
months/  under  the  Act  of  1795,  I  will  yet  vote  to  pay  them, 
because  they  had  no  motive  but  supposed  duty  and  patriotism 
to  move  them ;  and,  moreover,  they  will  have  rendered  almost 
the  entire  service  required  of  them  before  Congress  shall  meet. 
But  the  audacious  usurpation  of  President  Lincoln,  for  which 
he  deserves  impeachment,  in  daring,  against  the  very  letter  of 
the  Constitution,  and  without  a  shadow  of  law,  to  ( raise  and 
support  armies/  and  to  '  provide  and  maintain  a  navy.'  for 
three  or  five  years,  by  mere  executive  proclamation,  I  will  not 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  163 

vote  to  sustain  or  ratify  —  NEVER  !  Millions  for  defence ;  not 
a  dollar  or  a  man  for  aggressive  and  offensive  civil  war.  .  .  . 
A  public  debt  of  hundreds  of  millions  weighing  us  and  our 
posterity  down  for  generations,  we  cannot  escape.  Fortunate 
shall  we  be  if  we  escape  with  our  liberties.  Indeed,  it  is  no 
longer  so  much  a  question  of  war  with  the  South  as  whether  we 
ourselves  are  to  have  constitutions  and  a  republican  form  of 
government  hereafter  in  the  North  and  West. 

"In  brief:  I  am  for  the  CONSTITUTION  first,  and  at  all 
hazards  ;  for  whatever  can  now  be  saved  of  the  UNION  next ; 
and  for  PEACE  always  as  essential  to  the  preservation  of  either. 
But  whatever  any  one  may  think  of  the  war,  one  thing  at  least 
every  lover  of  liberty  ought  to  demand  inexorably :  that  it  shall 
be  carried  on  strictly  subject  to  the  Constitution. 

"The  peace  policy  was  tried:  it  arrested  secession,  and 
promised  a  restoration  of  the  Union.  The  policy  of  war  is 
now  upon  trial :  in  twenty  days  it  has  driven  four  States  and 
four  millions  and  a  half  of  people  out  of  the  Union  and  into 
the  Confederacy  of  the  South.  In  a  little  while  longer  it  will 
drive  out,  also,  two  or  four  more  States,  and  two  millions  or 
three  millions  of  people.  War  may,  indeed,  be  the  policy  of  the 
EAST  ;  but  peace  is  a  necessity  to  the  WEST. 

"I  would  have  volunteered  nothing,  gentlemen,  at  this 
time  in  regard  to  this  civil  war ;  but  as  constituents,  you  had  a 
right  to  know  my  opinions  and  position ;  and  briefly,  but  most 
frankly,  you  have  them." 

Such  were  his  sentiments,  his  conception  of  the  impending 
dangers,  and  his  convictions  as  to  the  final  issue  of  the  war 
during  the  first  month  after  tLe  proclamation,  and  when,  amid 
the  storm  which  swept  over  the  whole  land,  scarcely  ten  men 
in  the  country  dared  openly  and  publicly  to  confess  that  they 
were  of  the  «same  opinion. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  THIRTY-SEVENTH  CONGRESS. 

ON  the  4th  of  July,  1861,  the  Thirty-Seventh  Congress 
met  in  first  or  extraordinary  session.  The  Speaker  delivered  a 
ferocious  and  bloodthirsty  address,  declaring  that  territorial 
unity  must  be  maintained  though  the  "  waters  of  the  Missis 
sippi  should  be  crimsoned  with  human  gore,  and  every  foot  of 
American  soil  baptized  in  fire  and  blood."  This  atrocious 
sentiment  was  received,  according  to  the  official  report,  with 
"  vociferous  applause  upon  the  floor  and  in  the  galleries,  which 
lasted  for  many  minutes."  Indeed,  the  entire  scene  reminded 
one  of  some  of  the  maddened  spectacles  exhibited  by  the 
French  National  and  Constituent  Assemblies,  rather  than  the 
sitting  of  a  Congress  of  sober  and  rational  statesmen.  One  of 
the  first  acts  of  the  House  was  to  resolve  that  nothing  not  re 
lating  to  the  war  should  be  in  order.  War  became  a  fixed 
fact,  and  Mr.  Vallandigham  accepted  it  as  such;  and  maintain 
ing  only  his  opinions  and  consistency  of  position  in  regard  to 
it,  he  confined  his  opposition  to  the  usurpations  of  power, 
illegal  acts,  and  violations  of  the  Constitution  by  the  Executive. 
It  was  the  purpose  of  the  Administration  leaders  to  prevent  all 
debate,  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  general  disposition  among  the 
members  on  both  sides  to  acquiesce.  But  Mr.  Vallandigham 
was  resolved  to  be  heard.  Accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  July, 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  165 

the  House  being  in  Committee  of  the  "Whole,  the  subject  under 
consideration  the  State  of  the  Union,  Mr.  Vallandigham  ob 
tained  the  floor,  and  commenced  thus : — 

"Mr.  Chairman:  —  In  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  the  other  day  we  swore  to  support,  and  by  the 
authority  of  which  we  are  here  assembled  now,  it  is  written : 

"  'All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  United  States/ 

"  It  is  further  written,  also,  that  the  Congress  to  which  all 
legislative  powers  granted  are  thus  committed : 

" '  Shall  make  no  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of 
the  press.' 

"  And  it  is  yet  further  written,  in  protection  of  Senators 
and  Representatives  in  that  freedom  of  debate  here  without 
which  there  can  be  no  liberty,  that  — 

" '  For  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  House  they  shall  not 
be  questioned  in  any  other  place.' 

"  Holding  up  the  shield  of  the  Constitution,  and  standing 
here  in  the  place  and  with  the  manhood  of  a  Representative 
of  the  people,  I  propose  to  myself,  to-day,  the  ancient  freedom 
of  speech  used  within  these  walls,  though  with  somewhat 
more,  I  trust,  of  decency  and  discretion  than  have  sometimes 
been  exhibited  here.  Sir,  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the 
direct  question  of  this  civil  war  in  which  we  are  engag&l.  Its 
present  prosecution  is  a  foregone  conclusion;  and  a  wise  man 
never  wastes  his  strength  on  a  fruitless  enterprise.  My  posi 
tion  shall,  at  present,  for  the  most  part  be  indicated  by  my 
votes,  and  by  the  resolutions  and  motions  which  I  may  submit. 
But  there  are  many  questions  incident  to  the  war  and  to  its 
prosecution  about  which  I  have  somewhat  to  say  now." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  continued  at  considerable  length  in 
exposing  and  denouncing  Executive  usurpation  in  bold  and 
eloquent  terms. 

~No  speech  was  ever  delivered  in  the  midst  of  greater 
personal  danger — not  even  Cicero's  oration  for  Milo,  or  Cur- 
ran's  defence  of  Bond.  The  galleries  and  lobbies  were  filled 


166  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT    L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

with  an  excited  soldiery  and  infuriated  partisans,  threatening 
assassination.  A  leading  Administration  paper  in  New  York 
had  two  days  before  declared  that  if  an  attempt  was  made  to 
speak  for  peace,  the  "  aisles  of  the  hall  would  run  with  blood." 
Arbitrary  arrests  for  opinion  and  speech  had  already  been  com 
menced.  Almost  without  sympathy  upon  his  own  side  of  the 
House,  and  with  a  fierce,  insolent,  and  overwhelming  majority 
upon  the  other,  Mr.Vallandigham,  calm  and  unawed,  met  every 
peril,  and  spoke  as  firmly,  solemnly  and  earnestly  as  under 
ordinary  circumstances.  He  closed  as  follows : — 

"  I  have  finished  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  what  I  proposed  to 
say  at  this  time  upon  the  message  of  the  President.  As  to  my 
own  position  in  regard  to  this  most  unhappy  civil  war,  I  have 
only  to  say  that  I  stand  to-day  just  where  I  stood  upon  the  4th 
of  March  last,  where  the  whole  Democratic  party,  and  the 
whole  Constitutional  Union  party,  and  a  vast  majority,  as  I 
believe,  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  stood  too.  I  am  for 
peace,  speedy,  immediate,  honorable  PEACE,  with  all  its  bless 
ings.  Others  may  have  changed :  I  have  not.  I  question  not 
their  motives  nor  quarrel  with  their  course.  It  is  vain  and 
futile  for  them  to  question  or  quarrel  with  mine.  My  duty 
shall  be  discharged,  calmly,  firmly,  quietly,  and  regardless  of 
consequences.  The  approving  voice  of  a  conscience  void  of 
offence,  and  the  approving  judgment  which  shall  follow  '  after 
some  time  be  past/  these,  God  help  me,  are  my  trust  and  my 
support. 

"Sir,  I  have  spoken  freely  and  fearlessly  to-day,  as  became  an 
American  Representative  and  an  American  citizen ;  one  firmly 
resolved,  come  what  may,  not  to  lose  his  own  constitutional 
liberties,  nor  to  surrender  his  own  constitutional  rights  in  the 
vain  effort  to  impose  these  rights  and  liberties  upon  ten  mil 
lions  of  unwilling  people.  I  have  spoken  earnestly,  too,  but 
yet  not  as  one  unmindful  of  the  solemnity  of  the  scenes  which 
surround  us  upon  every  side  to-day.  Sir,  when  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  assembled  here  on  the  3d  of  December, 
1860,  just  seven  months  ago,  the  Senate  was  composed  of  sixty- 
six  Senators,  representing  the  thirty-three  States  of  the  Union, 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  167 

and  this  House  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  members  — 
every  State  being  present.  It  was  a  grand  and  solemn  spec 
tacle  ;  the  embassadors  of  three  and  thirty  sovereignties  and  of 
thirty-one  millions  of  people,  the  mightiest  republic  on  earth, 
in  general  Congress  assembled.  In  the  Senate,  too,  and  this 
House,  were  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  distinguished  states 
men  of  the  country :  men  whose  names  were  familiar  to  the 
whole  country  —  some  of  them  destined  to  pass  into  history. 
The  new  wings  of  the  Capitol  had  but  just  recently  been  fin 
ished,  in  all  their  gorgeous  magnificence ;  and,  except  a  hundred 
marines  at  the  navy-yard,  not  a  soldier  was  within  forty  miles 
of  Washington. 

"  Sir,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  meets  here  again 
to-day ;  but  how  changed  the  scene  !  Instead  of  thirty-four 
States,  twenty-three  only,  one  less  than  the  number  forty  years 
ago,  are  here  or  in  the  other  wing  of  the  Capitol.  Forty- six 
Senators  and  one  hundred  and  seventy  Representatives  con 
stitute  the  Congress  of  the  now  United  States.  And  of  these, 
eight  Senators  and  twenty-four  Representatives  from  four 
States  only,  linger  here  yet  as  deputies  from  that  great  South 
which  from  the  beginning  of  the  Government  contributed  so 
much  to  mould  its  policy,  to  build  up  its  greatness,  and  to  con 
trol  its  destinies.  All  the  other  States  of  that  South  are  gone. 
Twenty-two  Senators  and  sixty-five  Representatives  no  longer 
answer  to  their  names.  The  vacant  seats  are  indeed  still  here, 
and  the  escutcheons  of  their  respective  States  look  down  now 
solemnly  and  sadly  from  these  vaulted  ceilings.  But  the  Vir 
ginia  of  Washington  and  Henry  and  Madison,  of  Marshall  and 
Jefferson,  of  Randolph  and  Monroe,  the  birth-place  of  Clay,  the 
mother  of  States  and  of  Presidents ;  the  Carolinas  of  Pinckney 
and  Surnter  and  Marion,  of  Calhoun  and  Macon ;  and  Tennessee, 
the  home  and  burial-place  of  Jackson ;  and  other  States,  too, 
once  most  loyal  and  true,  are  no  longer  here.  The  voices  and 
footsteps  of  the  great  dead  of  the  past  two  ages  of  the  Republic, 
linger  still,  it  may  be  in  echo,  along  the  stately  corridors  of 
this  Capitol,  but  their  descendants  from  nearly  one-half  of  the 
States  of  the  Republic  will  meet  with  us  no  more  within  these 
marble  halls.  But  in  the  parks  and  lawns,  and  upon  the  broad 
avenues  of  this  spacious  city,  seventy  thousand  soldiers  have 
supplied  their  places ;  and  the  morning  drum-beat  from  a  score 
of  encampments  within  sight  of  this  beleaguered  capital,  give 


168  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

melancholy  warning  to  the  representatives  of  the  States  and  of 
the  people,  that  AMID  ARMS  LAWS  ARE  SILENT. 

"  Sir,  some  years  hence,  I  would  fain  hope  some  months 
hence,  if  I  dare,  the  present  generation  will  demand  to  know 
the  cause  of  all  this ;  and  some  ages  hereafter  the  grand  and 
impartial  tribunal  of  history  will  make  solemn  and  diligent 
inquest  of  the  authors  of  this  terrible  revolution." 

A  very  large  number  of  copies  of  this  speech  was  circulated 
in  various  forms,  North  and  South,  and  it  was  published  also 
in  England  and  on  the  continent.  The  peroration  has  been 
especially  admired,  but  it  fell  upon  hostile  or  unwilling  ears. 
His  fit  audience  was  to  be  gathered  in  the  presence-chamber 
of  Time.  But  comparative  freedom  of  speech,  which  other 
wise  might  have  perished,  was  made  secure,  at  least  within  the 
halls  of  Congress. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech,  in  reply  to  a  question  by 
Mr.  Holman,  of  Indiana,  in  regard  to  supporting  the  Govern 
ment,  Mr.  Yallandigham  said  he  would  answer  in  the  words 
of  the  following  resolution,  which  he  had  prepared,  and  pro 
posed  to  offer  at  a  future  time : — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Federal  Government  is  the  agent  of  the 
people  of  the  several  States  composing  the  Union ;  that  it  con 
sists  of  three  distinct  departments — the  legislative,  the  execu 
tive,  and  the  judicial — each  equally  a  part  of  the  Government, 
and  equally  entitled  to  the  confidence  and  support  of  the  States 
and  the  people ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  patriot  to 
sustain  the  several  departments  of  the  Government  in  the 
exercise  of  all  the  constitutional  powers  of  each  which  may  be 
necessary  and  proper  for  the  preservation  of  the  Government  in 
its  principles  and  in  its  vigor  and  integrity,  and  to  stand  by 
and  defend  to  the  utmost  the  flag  which  represents  the  Govern 
ment,  the  Union,  and  the  country." 

On  the  7th  of  July,  Mr.  "Vallandigham's  courage  and  pres 
ence  of  mind  were  severely  tested.  He  that  day  visited  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  169 

Ohio  camps  on  the  west  side  of  the  Potomac,  where  several 
hundred  of  his  constituents  were  stationed.  Soon  after  arriv 
ing  upon  the  grounds,  some  members  of  a  Cleveland  company 
approached  and  notified  him  to  leave.  He  refused  indignantly : 
a  tumult  ensued.  Several  of  the  officers  and  a  large  majority 
of  the  men  soon  rallied  to  his  support,  and  the  rioters  retired 
to  their  own  limits.  He  remained  an  hour  or  two,  and  then 
returned  to  Washington.  The  following  despatch  in  relation 
to  the  matter  was  forwarded  to  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia: — 

"Alexandria,  July  7,  1861. —  Mr.  Vallandigham,  member 
of  Congress  from  Ohio,  visited  the  Ohio  regiments  to-day. 
While  in  the  camp  of  the  first  regiment,  a  disposition  was 
shown  by  many  to  oust  him,  and,  notwithstanding  the  nerve 
and  courage  shown  by  Mr.  Vallandigham,  it  is  probable  they 
would  have  succeeded  but  for  the  protection  afforded  him  by 
the  Dayton  companies  and  a  pass  from  General  Scott.  He 
finally  retired  to  the  camp  of  the  second  regiment,  after  declar 
ing  himself  as  good  a  Union  man  as  any  of  them,  and  express 
ing  his  scorn  for  the  mob-spirit  shown  by  his  fellow-citizens." 

False  reports  in  regard  to  this  affair  were  widely  circulated 
by  the  Republican  press,  but  the  account  given  in  the  above 
despatch  is  substantially  correct,  except  that  it  ought  to  have 
been  stated  that  the  disposition  to  oust  Mr.  Vallandigham  was 
confined  to  a  single  company  from  Cleveland. 

Pending  the  consideration  of  the  Volunteer  Army  Bill,  on 
the  12th  of  July,  Mr. Vallandigham  moved  to  strike  out  from 
the  section  relating  to  chaplains  the  words  "Christian  denom 
ination,"  and  instead  thereof  to  insert  "  religious  society."  He 
said : — 

"  I  do  it,  Mr.  Chairman,  because  there  is  a  large  body  of 
men  in  this  country,  and  one  growing  continually,  of  the 
Hebrew  faith,  whose  rabbis  and  priests  are  men  of  great  learn- 


170  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

ing  and  unquestioned  piety,  and  whose  adherents  are  as  good 
citizens  and  as  true  patriots  as  any  in  the  country,  but  who  are 
excluded  by  this  section ;  and  because  also  under  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  Congress  is  forbidden  to  make  any 
law  respecting  the  establishment  of  a  State  religion.  While 
we  are  in  one  sense  a  Christian  people,  and  yet  in  another  sense 
not  the  most  Christian  people  in  the  world,  this  is  yet  not  a 
"  Christian  Government"  nor  a  government  which  has  any  con 
nection  with  any  one  form  of  religion  in  preference  to  any 
other  form:  I  speak,  of  course,  in  a  political  sense  alone. 
For  these  reasons  I  move  the  amendment :  while  confining  it 
to  religious  societies,  it  will  leave  the  appointment  open  to 
those  at  least  who  are  of  the  Hebrew  faith,  and  who  by  the 
terms  of  the  bill  are  unjustly  and  without  constitutional  war 
rant  excluded  from  it." 

The  amendment  was  rejected. 

On  the  same  day  Mr.  Vallandigham  moved  the  following 
proviso  to  the  same  bill,  accompanying  it  with  a  few  remarks. 
It  was  before  any  serious  battle  had  been  fought  between  the 
contending  parties : — 

" ( Provided  further,  That  before  the  President  shall  have 
the  right  to  call  out  any  more  volunteers  than  are  already  in 
the  service,  he  shall  appoint  seven  commissioners,  whose 
mission  shall  be  to  accompany  the  army  on  its  march,  to 
receive  and  consider  such  propositions,  if  any,  as  may  at  any 
time  be  submitted  from  the  executive  of  the  so-called  Confed 
erate  States,  or  of  any  one  of  them,  looking  to  a  suspension  of 
hostilities  and  the  return  of  said  States,  or  any  one  of  them,  to 
the  Union,  and  to  obedience  to  the  Federal  Constitution  and 
authority/ 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  rise  to  debate  this  question  at 
length  —  the  hour  for  that  discussion  has  not  yet  come  —  but 
simply  to  remind  gentlemen  on  both  sides  of  the  House  that 
when,  four  years  ago,  the  obscure  and  far  distant  Territory  of 
Utah,  with  little  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  insignificant  in  power  and  resources,  was  in  armed  rebellion 
against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  the  President 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  171 

appointed  two  commissioners  to  accompany  the  army  upon  a 
like  mission  of  generous  forbearance  and  humanity. 

"Mr.  Lovejoy. — I  make  the  point  of  order  that  the  amend 
ment  is  irrelevant. 

"The  Chairman. —  The  Chairman  overrules  the  point  of 
order. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. —  I  rise  simply  to  remind  the  House  of 
that  significant  fact,  and  to  inquire-  whether  if,  in  a  case  like 
that,  where  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  a  people  so  few,  so  insig 
nificant,  and  so  odious  in  their  manners  and  their  institutions, 
were  concerned,  this  great  and  powerful  Government  thought 
it  becoming,  in  a  spirit  of  justice  and  moderation,  to  send  com 
missioners  to  accompany,  and  indeed  to  precede,  the  army  on 
its  march,  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  propositions  of  submis 
sion  and  of  return  to  obedience  to  the  authority  of  the  Federal 
Government,  we  ought  not  now,  in  this  great  revolution  —  this 
great  lebellion,  if  you  prjfer  the  word  —  to  exhibit  somewhat 
also  of  the  same  spirit  of  moderation  and  forbearance ;  and 
while  the  legislative  department  is  engaged  in  voting  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  men  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  we 
ought  not,  bearing  the  sword  in  one  hand,  to  go  forth  with  the 
olive  branch  in  the  other? 

"  I  offer  the  amendment  in  good  faith,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  whether  there  be  such  a  disposition  in  the  House. 
For  my  own  part,  Sir,  while  I  would  not  in  the  beginning  have 
given  a  dollar  or  a  man  to  commence  this  war,  lam  willing— 
now  that  we  are  in  the  midst  of  it  without  any  act  of  ours — to 
vote  just  as  many  men  and  just  as  much  money  as  may  be  neces 
sary  to  protect  and  defend  the  Federal  Government.  It  would  be 
both  treason  and  madness  now  to  disarm  the  Government  in  the 
presence  of  an  enemy  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  in  the  field 
against  it.  But  I  will  not  vote  millions  of  men  and  money 
blindly,  for  bills  interpreted  by  the  message  and  in  speeches  on 
this  floor  to  mean  bitter  and  relentless  hostility  to  and  subjuga 
tion  of  the  South.  It  is  against  an  aggressive  and  invasive  rear- 
fare  that  I  raise  my  vote  and  voice.  I  desire  not  to  be  misunder 
stood.  I  would  suspend  hostilities  for  present  negotiation,  to 
try  the  temper  of  the  South  —  the  Union  men,  at  least,  of  the 
South.  But  as  the  war  is  upon  us,  there  must  be  an  army  in 
the  field;  there  must  be  money  appropriated  to  maintain  it; 
but  I  will  give  no  more  of  men  and  no  more  of  money  than  is 


172  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

necessary  to  keep  that  army  in  the  position  and  ready  to  strike, 
until  it  can  be  ascertained  whether  there  is  a  Union  sentiment 
in  the  South,  and  whether  there  be  indeed  any  real  and  sober 
and  well-founded  disposition  among  the  people  of  those  States 
to  return  to  the  Union  and  to  their  obedience  to  the  authority 
of  this  Government.  I  trust  that  this  amendment  will  receive 
that  consideration  which  I  believe  it  justly  deserves." 

And  yet,  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  this  proposition  to  ap 
point  commissioners  solely  for  the  purpose  of  a  restoration  of 
ike  Union  by  the  return  of  the  seceded  States,  received  only 
twenty-one  votes ! 

On  the  19th  of  July,  before  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  Mr. 
Crittenden  asked  unanimous  consent  to  offer  the  following 
resolution : —  * 

"  Resolved,  That  the  present  deplorable  civil  war  has  been 
forced  upon  the  country  by  the  disunionists  of  the  Southern  States, 
now  in  revolt  against  the  Constitutional  Government,  and  in 
arms  around  the  Capital;  that  in  this  national  emergency,  Con 
gress,  banishing  all  feeling  of  mere  passion  and  resentment,  will 
recollect  only  its  duty  to  the  whole  country;  that  this  war  is  not 
waged  on  their  part  in  any  spirit  of  oppression  or  for  any  pur 
pose  of  conquest  or  subjugation,  or  purpose  of  overthrowing  or 
interfering  with  the  rights  or  established  institutions  of  those 
States,  but  to  defend  and  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Con 
stitution,  and  to  preserve  the  Union,  with  all  the  dignity, 
equality,  and  rights  of  the  several  States  unimpaired ;  and  that 
as  soon  as  these  objects  are  accomplished,  the  war  ought  to 


Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens  objected.  On  the  22d  of  July,  the 
day  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  Mr.  Crittenden  again  offered 
it,  and  this  time  it  was  received  without  objection.  A  separate 
vote  was  had  upon  the  first  part  of  the  resolution  in  these 
words : —  "  That  the  present  deplorable  civil  war  has  been  forced 
upon  the  country  by  the  disunionists  of  the  Southern  States  now 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  173 

in  revolt  against  the  Constitutional  Government,  and  in  arms 
around  the  Capital." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  refused  to  vote  for  it,  upon  the  ground 
that  it  did  not  tell  the  whole  truth  and  include  "  the  disunion 
Abolitionists  of  the  Northern  and  Western  States."  He  did  not 
vote  against  it,  because  it  was  true  in  part.  It  passed,  yeas 
121,  nays  2 — Burnett,  of  Kentucky,  and  Reid,  of  Missouri. 

The  second  part  of  the  resolution  was  then  voted  upon,  and 
passed,  yeas  117,  nays  2 — Potter,  of  "Wisconsin,  and  Riddle,  of 
Ohio,  both  Republicans.  Mr.  Vallandigham  voted  for  it.  The 
terrible  defeat  at  Bull  Run  secured  this  unanimity.  Three  days 
before,  scarcely  a  single  Republican  would  have  voted  for  this 
resolution,  at  least  for  the  latter  part  of  it ;  now  it  passed  with 
only  two  dissenting  voices. 

The  Military  Academy  Bill  being  under  consideration,  Mr. 
Vallandigham  denounced  the  new-fangled  oath  of  allegiance 
which  it  proposed  to  require  of  the  cadets.  "  I  am  especially 
opposed,"  he  said, "  to  the  unheard-of  and  execrable  oath  required 
by  one  of  its  sections.  There  is  no  inconsistency,  not  the 
slightest,  between  the  allegiance  which  every  man  owes  to  the 
State  in  which  he  lives  and  that  which  he  bears  to  the  United 
States;  they  are  perfectly  reconcilable.  Yet  it  requires  the 
renunciation  of  the  allegiance  which  every  cadet  owes  by  birth  or 
adoption  to  his  State.  It  is  an  oath  which  ought  not  to  be  required 
of  any  young  man  of  honor,  or  of  any  citizen  of  a  free  country. 
I  denounce  it,  too,  as  unconstitutional.  All  that  that  instrument 
provides  for,  is  an  oath  to  support  it."  Here  his  remarks  were 
arrested  and  declared  out  of  order,  whereupon  he  resumed  his 
seat,  saying,  "  Then,  Sir,  I  propose  to  discuss  it  in  that  Great 
Hereafter  to  which  I  have  so  often  had  occasion  of  late  to 
appeal." 


174  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Before  the  adjournment  he  introduced  a  joint  resolution  pro 
viding  for  the  calling  of  a  Convention  of  the  States,  to  adjust 
all  controversies  in  the  mode  prescribed  by  the  Constitution ; 
but  never  during  the  entire  Congress  was  able  to  secure 
any  action  upon  it.  He  had  taken  a  most  active  and  vigilant 
part  in  the  proceedings  throughout  the  session ;  and  although 
with  the  sympathy  and  support  of  but  some  eight  or  ten  mem 
bers,  was  always  upon  the  alert,  and  on  the  day  of  the  adjourn 
ment  was  aptly  described  by  a  Republican  member  as  "the 
young  man  standing  in  the  aisle,  where  he  has  stood  nearly  all  the 
session  —  on  the  frontier."  The  House  adjourned  on  the  6th 
of  August,  and  the  adjournment  was  followed  by  one  of  those 
periodic  and  spasmodic  reigns  of  terror  with  which  the  Adminis 
tration  so  often  afflicted  the  country  during  the  war.  But  Mr. 
Vallandigham  was  not  molested.  In  contempt  of  all  threats 
of  violence  lie  addressed  several  public  meetings  in  his  own 
district,  during  and  after  the  canvass  which  resulted  in  over 
whelming  defeat  to  the  Democratic  party  in  every  State. 

Congress  met  in  second  session  on  the  2d  of  December, 
1861,  and  the  House  in  hot  haste  endorsed  the  act  of  Captain 
Wilkes  in  seizing  Mason  and  Slidell  on  board  the  British 
mail-steamer  Trent.  On  the  15th  of  December,  the  news  of 
the  storm  of  indignation  in  England  was  received.  Mr.  Val 
landigham  determined  to  expose  the  shallow  but  bluster 
ing  and  cowardly  statesmanship  of  the  Abolition  party  in 
the  House.  Accordingly,  the  next  day,  remarking  that  he 
"  regretted  and  would  have  opposed,  had  he  had  the  power,  and 
prevented  the  Administration  and  this  House  from  the  folly 
of  taking  a  position  in  advance  upon  the  Question,  but  that  it 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  175 

was  too  late  now  to  retreat,"  offered  a  resolution  pledging  the 
House  to  support  the  President  "  in  upholding  now  the  honor 
and  vindicating  the  courage  of  the  Government  and  people  of 
the  United  States  against  a  foreign  power."  But  a  great  change 
had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the  House,  and  the  resolution  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  by  a  vote  of  yeas 
109,  nays  16 ;  all  of  the  latter  Democrats,  eight  of  them  from 
Ohio.  On  the  next  day  the  following  colloquy  occurred : — 

Mr.  Colfax. — "  I  am  still  in  favor  of  meting  out  the  same 
treatment  to  them  [Mason  and  Slidell]  as  Colonel  Corcoran 
received." 

Mr.  Vallandigham.-?—"  These  men  will  be  surrendered  be 
fore  three  months  in  the  face  of  a  threat.  I  make  that  pre 
diction  here  to-day." 

Mr.  Col/ax. — "  I  disbelieve  it," 

Mr.  Cox. — "I  hope  that  the  prediction  of  my  colleague 
will  never  be  fulfilled." 

On  the  29th  of  December,  twelve  days  afterwards,  they 
were  surrendered  upon  a  peremptory  demand,  and  hi  the  face 
of  a  threat. 

On  the  7th  of  January,  1862,  the  subject  was  again  brought 
before  the  House,  and  in  strong  terms  Mr.  Vallandigham  de 
nounced  the  surrender  of  Mason  and  Slidell  under  a  threat. 
He  was  assailed,  personally,  as  to  his  war  record,  by  John 
Hutchins,  of  Ohio,  the  successor  of  Joshua  E.  Giddings.  The 
following  is  an  extract  from  his  remarks  in  reply : — 

"  But  I  rose,  Sir,  to  allude  for  a  moment  to  what  was  said 
some  time  ago  by  my  colleague  from  the  Ashtabula  district 
[Mr.  Hutchins.]  His  remarks  were  not,  at  first,  even  deserv 
ing  of  any  very  special  reply ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  half  an 


176  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

hour,  I  shall  forbear  some  things  which  I  might  have  said  had 
the  floor  been  assigned  to  me  at  the  moment. 

"In  answer  to  his  proposition. that  a  war  with  England 
must  result  in  a  recognition  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  dis 
ruption  permanently  of  this  Union,  I  have  only  to  say  to  him, 
as  I  said  the  other  day  to  a  gentleman  from  Indiana,  that  it 
became  him,  and  all  others  concerned,  to  have  thought  of  that 
on  the  first  day  of  the  session,  when  no  less  than  three  several 
resolutions,  directly  or  indirectly  endorsing  the  act  of  Captain 
Wilkes,  passed  this  House  without  opposition.  I  did  not  at 
the  time  approve  of  the  resolution  of  thanks  submitted  by  the 
gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Lovejoy],  and  I  looked  around 
me  in  anxious  suspense  to  observe  whether  there  was  courage 
or  statesmanship  enough  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  to  in 
terpose  an  objection  to  it;  but  there  was  none.  I  offered 
none.  Had  I  objected,  the  cry  would  have  again  gone  forth, 
'  Behold  the  enemy  of  his  country,  always  against  her ! 7  I 
had  nv  responsibility  that  required  me  to  interfere,  and  I  did 
not.  Then  was  the  time,  so  far  as  this  House  was  concerned, 
to  have  paused ;  and  so  far  as  regards  this  Administration,  it 
was  their  duty  to  have  acted  when  Captain  Wilkes  first  an 
chored  the  San  Jacinto  at  Fortress  Monroe.  The  law  of  the 
case  on  the  12th  of  November  last  was  precisely  what  the  law 
was  on  the  27th  of  December  following.  The  facts  were  just 
as  well  known  and  understood  four-and-twenty  hours  after  the 
arrival  of  these  men  upon  our  coast  as  they  were  understood 
and  known  when  the  despatch  of  the  Secretary  was  written 
and  the  surrender  made.  Honor  would  have  been  saved,  and 
a  savor  of  grace  imparted  by  a  voluntary  discharge  at  the 
firs'. 

u  That  is  my  reply ;  and  if  I  am  to  be  charged  with  the 
desire  of  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  Southern  Confederacy 
by  maintaining  the  honor  and  dignity  of  my  own  country 
against  a  foreign  foe,  I  hurl  back  the  charge  defiantly  into  the 
teeth  of  all  who  were  concerned,  directly  or  indirectly,  openly 
or  tacitly,  in  the  resolutions  of  the  first  day  of  this  session.  It 
is  too  late  now,  Sir,  to  meet  me  with  this  mean  and  beggarly 
insinuation.  I  have  had  enough  of  it  outside  of  this  House, 
and  will  submit  to  none  of  it  here. 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  not  imitate  the  bad  manners  nor  the 
breach  of  parliamentary  decorum  of  which  the  member  over 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    V  ALLAN  DIGH  AM.  177 

the  way  was  guilty,  by  an  inquiry  into  his  Abolition-disunion 
record  for  the  past  fifteen  years,  as  very  well  I  might.  As  to 
my  motives,  he  is  not  the  judge,  nor  is  any  other  member  of 
this  House.  I  have  appealed  to  the  future,  and  I  calmly 
await  its  judgment. 

"  As  to  my  record  here  at  the  extra  session,  or  during  the 
present  session,  it  remains,  and  will  remain.  I  do  neither  re 
tract  one  sentiment  that  I  have  uttered,  nor  would  I  obliterate 
one  vote  that  I  have  given.  1  speak  of  the  record  as  it  will 
appear  hereafter,  and  indeed  stands  now,  upon  the  Journals  of 
this  House  and  in  the  Congressional  Globe.  And  there  is  no 
other  record,  thank  God,  and  no  act,  or  word,  or  thought  of 
mine,  and  never  has  been,  from  the  beginning,  in  public  or  in 
private,  of  which  any  patriot  ought  to  be  ashamed.  Sir,  it  is 
the  record  as  I  made  it,  and  as  it  exists  here  to-day ;  and  not 
as  a  mendacious  and  shameless  press  have  attempted  to  make 
it  up  for  me.  Let  us  see  who  will  grow  tired  of  his  record 
first.  Consistency,  firmness,  and  sanity  in  the  midst  of  general 
madness — these  made  up  my  offence.  But '  Time,  the  avenger/ 
sets  all  things  even ;  and  I  abide  his  leisure." 

On  the  15th  of  January  Mr.  Vallandigham  spoke  upon 
the  question  of  public  debt  and  the  finances.  The  following 
is  an  extract :  — 

"  Sir,  this  is  immeasurably  the  most  momentous  of  all  the 
questions  which  are  before  us ;  and  whoever  fails  to  meet  and 
to  grapple  with  it  boldly  and  to  the  full  extent,  is  a  dis- 
unionist;  for  bankruptcy  is  disunion  and  dissolution  in  the 
worst  form,  and  will  bring  the  war  to  an  instant  end  ;  not  as 
I  would  have  it,  by  adjustment,  fair  compromise  and  a  restora 
tion  of  the  Union,  but  by  immediate,  eternal  and  ignominious 
separation." 

On  the  3d  of  February  he  addressed  the  House  on  the 
subject  of  finances  and  the  United  States  Note  or  "Legal  Ten- 
der "  Bill,  in  a  searching  and  exhaustive  argument  against  a 
forced  Government  paper  currency ;  predicting  the  inevitable 
result  —  depreciation  and  final  explosion.  "We  make  some 
extracts : — 

12  ' 


178  LIFE  OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

• 

"  Sir,  I  recant  nothing,  and  would  expunge  nothing  from 
the  record  of  the  past,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned.  But  my  path 
of  duty  now,  as  a  Representative,  is  as  clear  as  the  sun  at  broad 
noon.  The  ship  of  State  is  upon  the  rocks.  I  was  not  the 
helmsman  who  drove  her  there;  nor  had  I  part  or  lot  in 
directing  her  course.  But  now,  when  the  sole  question  is  how 
shall  she  be  rescued  ?  I  will  not  any  longer,  or  at  least  just 
now,  inquire  who  has  done  the  mischief.  So  long  as  they  who 
hold  control  insisted  that  she  was  upon  her  true  course  and  in 
no  danger,  but  prosperously  upon  her  voyage,  though  in  the 
midst  of  the  storm,  I  had  a  right  to  resist  and  denounce  the 
madness  which  was  driving  her  headlong  to  destruction.  But 
now  that  the  shipwreck  stands  confessed,  I  recognise,  and  here 
declare,  it  to  be  as  much  my  duty  to  labor  for  her  preservation 
as  it  is  theirs  who  stranded  her  upon  the  beach.  Within  her 
sides  she  bears  still  all  that  I  have  or  hope  for,  now  or  here 
after,  in  this  life ;  and  he  is  a  madman  or  a  traitor  who  would 
see  her  perish  without  an  effort  to  save.  Whoever  shrinks  now 
is  responsible  also  for  the  ruin  which  shall  follow. 

"  Here,  Sir,  is  one  of  the  Continental  bills  of  November, 
1776.  It  bears  small  resemblance  to  the  delicate  paper  issues 
and  exquisite  engraving  of  the  present  day  in  the  United  States. 
It  smacks  a  little  of  the  poverty  of  '  Dixie J — as  is  said. 
Instead  of  the  effigy  of  Lincoln,  it  bears  on  its  face  a  veritable 
but  rudely  carved  woodcut  of  the  wild  boar  of  the  forest.  It 
was  bad  money,  Sir,  but  issued  in  a  noble  cause.  It  is  redolent 
of  liberty ;  it  smells  of  habeas  corpus,  free  speech,  a  free  press, 
free  ballot,  the  right  of  petition,  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
the  right  of  the  people  to  govern,  public  indictment,  speedy 
public  trial  by  jury,  and  all  the  great  rights  of  political  and 
individual  liberty  for  which  martyrs  have  died  and  heroes  con 
tended  for  ages  —  although  I  am  not  quite  sure,  Sir,  that  even 
now  it  is  altogether  without  somewhat  of  the  odor  of  rebellion 
lingering  about  it. 

"  There  is  not  a  member  of  this  House,  I  take  it  for  granted, 
who  does  not  desire  and  hope  and  look  for  an  ultimate,  if  not 
speedy  restoration  of  the  Union  of  these  States,  just  as  our 
fathers  made  it.  If  there  be  one  who  does  not,  no  matter  on 
which  side  of  the  House  he  sits,  HE  HAS  NO  BUSINESS  HEEE. 
I  have  differed  with  the  Administration  as  to  the  means, 
and  differ  widely  still,  but  never  as  to  the  end ;  if  re-wnion, 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  179 

the  old  Union,  be  indeed  the  end  and  purpose  for  which  they  arc 
contending.  But  I  repeat  it,  bankruptcy  is  disunion  and  dissolu 
tion  in  the  worst  form,  and  would  instantly  end  the  war,  the 
Government  and  the  Union  forever. 

"  Finally,  Sir,  if  the  Committee  and  the  House  shall  pro 
ceed  upon  the  principles  of  justice  and  sound  political  economy 
which  have  been  hitherto  observed  by  every  wise  Government, 
and  above  all  by  this  Government  from  the  beginning  in  the 
maintenance  of  its  credit  and  good  faith,  I  will  .lend  a  ready 
and  an  earnest  support  to  every  measure  framed  in  conformity 
with  these  principles,  and  intended  and  calculated  to  build  up 
and  to  sustain  the  public  credit  and  good  faith.  Otherwise  I 
cannot  and  will  not  vote  to  bring  down  upon  the  wretched 
people  of  this  once  happy  and  prosperous  country,  the  triple 
ruin  of  a  forced  currency,  enormous  taxation,  and  a  public  debt 
never  to  be  extinguished." 


Just  at  this  time,  such  and  so  great  had  been  the  flood  of 
denunciation  and  falsehood  poured  out  upon  him,  that  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  in  Congress  and  out  of  it  he  was  the  most  unpopular, 
best  abused,  most  execrated  man  in  America.  Pie  was  himself 
fully  conscious  of  the  fact ;  and  one  of  the  opening  paragraphs 
of  the  speech  freely  confesses  it.  "  Nor  am  I  to  be  deterred," 
he  said,  "  from  a  faithful  discharge  of  my  duty  by  the  con 
sciousness  that  my  voice  may  not  be  hearkened  to  here  or  in  the 
country,  because  of  the  continued,  persistent  but  most  causeless 
and  malignant  assaults  and  misrepresentations  to  which  for 
months  past  I  have  been  subjected.  Sir,  I  am  not  here  to 
reply  to  them  to-day;  neither  am  I  to  be  driven  from  the 
line  of  duty  by  them.  Strike,  but  hear."  He  was  barely 
listened  to  in  the  House ;  yet  the  speech  was  received  very 
favorably  among  the  better  class  of  bankers  and  financiers  in 
New  York  and  Boston. 

On  the  19th  of  February,  Mr.  Hickman,  of  Pennsylvania, 


180  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    V  ALL  AN  DIG  HAM. 

offered  a  resolution  "instructing  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 
to  inquire  into  the  truth  of  certain  charges  of  disloyalty  made  in 
the  local  columns  of  a  Baltimore  newspaper  against  C.  L.  Yal- 
landigham,  of  Ohio."  The  debate  that  ensued  was  interesting 
and  exciting.  We  give  a  full  report  that  all  may  see  the 
extent  and  magnitude  of  the  charges  of  disloyalty,  as  presented 
by  one  of  the  shrewdest  and  most  cunning  of  the  Abolition 
members. 

The  resolution  above  referred  to  having  been  offered,  Mr. 
Vallandighain  said : — 

"  I  was  just  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  House  to  that  statement  myself,  having  received  it  from 
some  unknown  source  a  moment  ago.  I  do  not  know,  of  course, 
what  the  motive  just  now  of  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania 
may  be,  nor  do  I  care.  My  purpose  then  was  just  what  it 
is  now,  to  give  a  plain,  direct,  emphatic  contradiction  —  a  flat 
denial  to  the  infamous  statement  and  insinuation  contained  in 
the  newspaper  paragraph  just  read.  .  I  never  wrote  a  letter  or 
a  line  upon  political  subjects,  least  of  all  on  the  question  of 
secession,  to  the  Baltimore  South,  or  to  any  other  paper,  or  to 
any  man  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  since  this  revolt 
began  —  never ;  and  I  defy  the  production  of  it.  It  is  false, 
infamous,  scandalous ;  and  it  is  beyond  endurance,  too,  that  a 
man's  reputation  shall  be  at  the  mercy  of  every  scavenger 
employed  to  visit  the  haunts  of  vice  in  a  great  city,  a  mere 
local  editor  of  an  irresponsible  newspaper,  who  may  choose  to 
parade  before  the  country  false  and  malicious  libels  like  this. 
I  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  say  that  I  enter  into  no 
defence,  and  shall  enter  into  none,  until  some  letter  shall  be 
produced  here  which  I  have  written,  or  authorised  to  be  written, 
referring  to '  bleeding  Dixie/  or  any  suggestion '  how  the  Yankees 
might  be  defeated/  If  any  such  are  in  existence,  I  pronounce 
them  here  and  now  utter  and  impudent  forgeries.  I  have  said 
that  I  enter  upon  no  defence.  I  deny  that  it  is  the  duty  or  the 
right  of  any  member  to  rise  here  and  call  for  investigation 
foui.ded  upon  statements  like  this ;  and  I  only  regret  that  I  did 
net  have  the  opportunity  to  denounce  this  report  before  the 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  181 

Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  rose,  and  in  this 
formal  manner  called  the  attention  of  the  House  to  it — him 
self  the  accuser  and  the  judge.  Sir,  I  have  been  for  fiveiyears 
a  member  of  this  House,  and  I  never  rose  to  a  personal  expla 
nation  but  once,  and  that  to  correct  a  report  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  House.  I  have  always  considered  such  mere  personal 
explanations  and  controversies  with  the  press  as  unbecoming 
the  dignity  of  the  House. 

"  Nevertheless,  I  did  intend  to  make  this  the  first  exception 
in  my  congressional  career,  and  to  say — and  I  wish  my  words 
reported,  not  only  at  the  desk  here  officially,  but  in  the  gallery — 
that  I  denounce  in  advance  this  foul  and  infamous  statement 
that  I  have  been  in  treasonable,  or  even  suspicious  correspon 
dence  with  any  one  in  that  State  —  loyal  though  it  is  to  the 
Union — or  in  any  other  State,  or  have  ever  uttered  one  sentiment 
inconsistent  with  my  duty,  not  only  as  a  member  of  this  House, 
but  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  —  one  who  has  taken  a 
solemn  oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  and  who,  thank  God, 
has  never  tainted  that  oath  in  thought,  or  word,  or  deed.  I 
have  had  the  right,  and  have  exercised,  and  as  God  liveth  and 
my  soul  liveth,  and  as  He  is  my  judge,  I  will  exercise  it  still 
in  this  House  and  out  of  it  in  vindicating  the  rights  of  the 
American  citizen ;  and  beyond  that  I  have  never  gone.  My 
sentiments  will  be  found  in  the  records  of  the  House,  except  au 
I  have  made  them  public  otherwise,  and  they  will  be  found 
nowhere  else.  There,  Sir,  is  their  sole  repository.  And  fore 
seeing  more  than  a  year  ago,  but  especially  in  the  early  part  of 
December  last,  the  magnitude  and  true  character  of  the  revolu 
tion  or  rebellion  into  which  this  country  was  about  to  be 
plunged,  I  then  resolved  not  to  write,  although  your  own  mails 
carried  then  the  letters,  nor  have  I  written  one  solitary  syllable 
or  line  —  as  to  the  Gulf  States  months  even  before  secession 
began  —  to  any  one  residing  in  a  seceded  State.  And  yet  the 
gentleman  avails  himself  now  of  this  paragraph  to  give  dignity 
and  importance  to  charges  of  the  falsest  and  most  infamous 
character.  Had  the  letter  been  produced ;  had  the  charge  come 
in  any  tangible  or  authentic  shape ;  had  any  editor  of  any 
respectable  newspaper,  even,  endorsed  the  charge  as  specific, 
there  might  have  been  some  apology ;  but  the  gentleman  knows 
well  that  this  charge  was  placed  in  the  local  columns  of  an 
irresponsible  newspaper,  put_there  by  some  person  who  had 


182  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM, 

never  seen  any  such  letter.  I  meet  this  first  specific  charge  of 
disloyalty,  made  responsible  here — I  meet  it  at  the  very  thres 
hold,  as  becomes  a  man  and  a  Representative  —  by  an  emphatic 
but  'contemptuous  denial.  This  is  due  to  the  House ;  it  is  due 
to  myself. 

"Mr.  Richardson. —  I  hope  the  gentleman  from  Pennsyl 
vania  will  allow  me  to  make  a  single  remark. 

"Mr.  Hickman. —  Certainly. 

"Mr.  Richardson. —  Mr.  Speaker,  I  want  to  hear  nothing 
about  disloyalty  on  this  side  of  the  House  while  there  is  a  class 
of  members  here  upon  the  other  side  of  the  House  who  have 
declared  that  they  will  vote  for  no  proposition  to  carry  on  the 
war  unless  it  is  prosecuted  in  a  particular  line,  and  for  the  abo 
lition  of  slavery.  They  would  subvert  the  Constitution  and  the 
Government,  and  I  denounce  them  as  traitors,  and  they  ought 
to  be  brought  to  trial,  condemnation,  and  execution.  ' 

" Mr.  Hickman. —  Mr.  Speaker,  the  motives  which  actuated 
me  in  introducing  the  resolution  in  question  ought  not  to  be 
doubted.  The  severe  charge  contained  in  the  article  in  ques 
tion  is  made  against  the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  a  member  of 
this  House.  Even  a  suspicion,  a  mere  suspicion,  would  justify 
sucli  an  investigation  as  this  resolution  contemplates.  But  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio,  as  well  as  other  members  upon  this  floor, 
knows  that  the  suspicions  which  have  existed  against  lim  —  I 
do  not  say  whether  justly  or  unjustly —  have  been  numerous, 
and  in  circulation  for  a  long  time  past.  It  is  the  duty  of  this 
House  to  purge  itself  of  unworthy  members.  I  do  not  assert 
whether  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  occupies  properly  or  im 
properly  his  seat  upon  this  floor.  By  offering  this  resolution 
1  do  not  prejudge  him.  If  he  were  the  most  intimate  friend  I 
had  on  earth,  accused  as  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  is  in  the 
paragraph  in  question,  I  should  deem  it  my  solemn  duty  to 
urge  the  investigation  which  is  here  suggested.  But,  Sir,  this 
charge  does  not  com  in  a  very  questionable  shape.  It  appears 
as  an  original  article  in  tne  Baltimore  Clipper,  and  is  therefore 
presumed  to  be  editorial,  or  at  least  under  the  supervision  of 
the  editor.  It,  to  all  appearances,  emanates  from  a  responsible 
source. 

"  But,  Sir,  I  suggest  further  that  the  suppression  of  the 
newspaper  in  question,  the  Baltimore  South,  and  the  seizure  of 
its  office  of  publication,  was  made  under  the  direct  authority 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  183 

of  the  Government,  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  effects  of 
the  office  are  at  this  time  in  the  custody  of  the  Government 
or  of  the  agents  of  the  Government,  and,  therefore,  the  informa 
tion  communicated  in  this  paper  must  have  come  through  the 
Government  or  the  agents  of  the  Government.  It  is  respon 
sible  in  its  origin,  as  far  as  we  can  judge.  Now,  Sir,  I  refer 
the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  as  my  answer  to  the  suggestion  that 
I  was  not  justified  in  offering  this  resolution  under  the  circum 
stances,  to  page  69  of  the  last  edition  of  the  Manual.  The  first 
paragraph  of  section  thirteen,  headed  '  Examination  of  Wit 
nesses/  reads  as  follows : 

"  '  Common  fame  is  a  good  ground  for  the  House  to  proceed  to  inquiry, 
and  even  to  accusation.' 

"  This,  Sir,  is  more  than  common  fame.  I  repeat  that  it  is, 
so  far  as  it  appears,  a  direct  charge  by  the  editor  of  a  respon 
sible  newspaper.  The  information  comes,  we  must  believe, 
through  the  Government  or  the  agents  of  the  Government,  and 
it  is  therefore  more  than  common  fame.  It  is  good  ground  at 
least  for  instituting  an  inquiry. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. —  I  desire  to  ask  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania  whether  he  does  not  know  that  this  is  a  mere 
local  item,  and  that  the  author  of  it  does  not  even  pretend  to 
have  seen  the  letters. 

"  Mr.  Hickman. —  I  do  not  understand  what  the  gentleman 
means  by  saying  that  the  author  of  the  paragraph  has  not  seen 
them. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. —  I  say  he  does  not  profess  to  have 
^een  them,  and  I  know  that  he  never  did,  for  they  never  were 
written,  do  not  now  exist,  and  never  did  exist. 

"  Mr.  Hicbnan. —  Who  never  saw  them  ? 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. —  The  author  of  that  paragraph  in  the 
local  columns  of  this  newspaper. 

"  Mr.  Hickman. —  He  never  saw  the  letters  ? 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. —  He  does  not  profess  even  to  have 
seen  them. 

"  Mr.  Hickman. —  Whether  it  is  a  local  item  or  not,  it  is  an 
original  article  in  a  responsible  newspaper,  and  is  therefore  pre 
sumed  to  have  been  inserted  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the 
editor,  if  not  written  by  him. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. —  The  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania 


184  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

has  alluded  to  suspicions  existing  in  former  times.  Now,  I 
desire  to  know  of  him  whether  he  ever  heard  of  any  specific 
item  on  which  any  such  suspicions  ever  rested  —  anything  other 
than  words  spoken  in  this  House  or  made  public  over  my  own 
name  ? 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — Yes,  Sir. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Well,  let  us  have  it. 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — I  have  heard  a  thousand. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Name  a  single  one. 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — I  do  not  desire  to  do  any  injustice  to  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  have  asked  the  gentleman,  and  I 
desire  a  direct  answer  to  my  question,  whether  he  can  specify 
one  single  item  ? 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — I  will  reply  to  it  directly. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Or  does  the  gentleman  mean  merely 
the  newspaper  slanders  that  have  been  published  against  me, 
and  which  I  have  denounced  as  false,  over  and  over  again,  in 
cards  and  on  the  floor  of  this  House  ? 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — I  know  nothing  about  that,  Sir.  I 
know  that  suspicions  may  well  exist,  and  I  know  they  do  exist, 
where  denials  accompany  them. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Yes ;  I  know  that  fact  in  the  gentle 
man's  own  case. 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — I  have  no  controversy  with  the  gentleman 
from  Ohio,  nor  am  I  here  to  defend  myself  in  the  course  which 
I  have  taken.  Let  him  defend  himself,  and  allow  me  to  take 
care  of  myself,  as  I  expect  to  be  able  to  do. 

"  Mr.  Richardson. — Will  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania 
allow  me 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — I  will  not  suffer  any  interruption  except 
by  the  gentleman  from  Ohio.  He  has  a  right  to  interrupt  me, 
and  I  am  glad  he  does  so,  because  I  do  not  want  to  put  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio  in  any  false  position  any  more  than  I 
would  desire  to  be  myself  placed  in  one ;  and  I  will  not  do  it. 
I  do  say,  most  distinctly,  that  suspicions  have  existed  against 
the  loyalty  of  the  gentleman  from  Ohio ;  and  I  would  not 
have  referred  to  them  at  all  if  I  had  not  been  satisfied  that  he 
himself  knew  of  the  existence  of  those  suspicions  as  well  as  I 
did.  Indeed,  the  remarks  which  preceded  my  rising  on  this 
floor  indicated  the  fact  more  clearly  than  I  myself  could  in- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  185 

dicate  it  by  anything  that  I  could  say,  that  he  was  in  posses 
sion  of  a  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  those  suspicions,  for  he 
got  up  to  repel  them,  not  merely  such  as  are  contained  in  this 
article  in  question,  but  in  general  terms  —  general  suspicions 
and  imputations  against  his  character.  That  was  deemed  right 
by  him,  Sir.  I  have  nothing  to  say  against  it. 

"  Now,  the  gentleman  asks  for  specifications.  I  am  called 
upon  by  him  to  refresh  my  memory,  and  to  give  an  instance. 
I  will  give  him  one  or  two.  I  may  not  be  able  to  give  more 
at  this  time.  Perhaps,  if  he  were  to  give  me  time,  I  would 
be  able  to  refer  him  to  many  more  instances. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Mr.  Speaker  — 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — The  gentleman  must  allow  me  to  answer 
his  question,  and  then  he  may  interrupt  me.  I  must  reply  to 
one  inquiry  at  a  time.  I  am  now  on  the  witness-stand  — 
brought  to  it  by  the  gentleman  from  Ohio.  I  am  on  cross- 
examination,  and  he  must  allow  me  to  answer  one  question 
before  he  propounds  to  me  another.  Now,  Sir,  I  refer  to  the 
fact  of  the  Breckenridge  meeting  in  the  city  of  Baltimore, 
where*  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  attended,  and  which  gave  rise 
to  very  many  suspicions,  allow  me  to  say ;  at  least,  I  have 
heard  a  great  many  expressed.  Allow  me  again  to  refer  to  the 
fact  of  his  attending  a  certain  dinner  in  Kentucky,  which  was 
given,  I  believe,  in  his  honor,  or  which  was,  at  least,  published 
as  such  in  the  papers. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Allow  me,  right  there 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — Allow  me  first 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — That  is  a  specific  fact,  which  I  wish 
to  answer. 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — Not  this  moment. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  appeal  to  the  gentleman's  honor. 

"  3Ir.  Hickman. — I  will  treat  the  gentleman  from  Ohio 
fairly.  He  must  receive  all  my  answer  before  he  asks  me 
another  question. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham — rLet  him  oblige  me  by  reDlying  to 
me  specifically. 

"  Mr.  Hickman. — I  am  not  done  with  my  answer,  and  I 
refuse  to  yield  the  floor  until  I  finish  my  answer.  I  am 
entitled  to  be  treated  here  properly,  as  well  as  the  gentleman 
from  Ohio.  I  will  extend  to  him  all  the  courtesy  that  can 
possibly  be  demanded  by  any  gentleman.  That  is  mv  habit,, 


186  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

I  trust.  There  are  many  other  items.  There  was  the  speech 
which  the  gentleman  made  at  the  July  session  in  this  House  — 
a  speech  which  was  understood  to  be  one  of  general  accusation 
and  crimination  against  the  Government  and  against  the  party 
having  the  conduct  of  this  war.  It  gave  rise  to  a  great  many 
suspicions ;  and  the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  with  his  intelligence, 
ought  not  to  be  ignorant  of  all  these  facts.  Well,  Sir,  will  not 
conversations  naturally  arise  in  consequence  of  these  facts? 
And  I  appeal  to  every  member  of  this  House  whether  they 
have  not  heard  suspicion  upon  suspicion  against  the  loyalty  of 
the  gentleman  from  Ohio.  Is  it  not  a  common  rumor,  Sir, 
that  he  is  suspected  ?  I  allege  that  it  is  a  common  rumor  in 
the  Northern  States,  and  among  the  loyal  people  of  the  loyal 
States,  that  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  is,  at  least,  open  to  grave 
suspicion,  if  not  direct  imputation.  That  is  my  answer.  Now 
I  will  hear  the  gentleman. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — In  reply  to  the  specification,  and  the 
only  one  which  the  gentleman  has  been  able  to  point  out, 
relating  to  a  public  dinner  in  Kentucky,  allow  me  to  tell  him 
that  my  foot  has  not  pressed  the  soil  of  Kentucky  since  the 
10th  day  of  July,  1852,  when,  as  a  member  of  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  where  I  reside,  I 
followed  the  remains  of  that  great  and  noble  man,  true  patriot 
and  Union  man,  Henry  Clay,  to  their  last  resting-place.  I 
have  partaken  of  no  dinners  there  or  elsewhere  of  a  political 
character,  nor  did  I  ever  attend  any  Breckenridge  meeting  at 
Baltimore  or  elsewhere  at  any  time.  This  is  my  answer  to 
that,  the  only  specification.  And  yet  the  gentleman  dares  at 
tempt  to  support  that  falsehood,  which  I  here  denounce  as 
such,  by  allusions  to  suspicions  which  have  been  created  and 
set  afloat  throughout  the  whole  country,  not  merely  against 
me,  but  against  hundreds  and  thousands  of  others,  in  whose 
veins  runs  blood  as  patriotic  and  loyal  as  ever  flowed  since  the 
world  began.  I  tell  the  gentleman  that,  in  years  past,  I  have 
heard  his  loyalty  to  the  Union  questioned.  I  have  known  of 
things  which  would  have  justified  me  —  had  I  relied  on 
authority  similar  to  that  to  which  he  has  attempted  to  give  dig 
nity  —  in  introducing  similar  resolutions  to  make  inquiry  into 
his  purpose  to  disrupt  this  Union  by  the  doctrines  which  he 
has  held  and  the  opinions  which  he  has  expressed.  And  yet 
opinions  and  sentiments  uttered  here  are  '  the  head  and  front 
of  my  offending.'  It  has  '  this  extent :  no  more.' 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  187 

"  And,  Sir,  I  replied,  some  time  ago,  to  two  others  which  I 
doubt  not  the  gentleman  would  have  dragged  now  out  of  the 
mire  and  slough  into  which  they  had  fallen  but  that  they  were 
answered  when  thrust  into  debate  by  the  gentleman  before  me 
[Mr.  Hutchins]  —  I  refer  to  the  charge  that  I  had  once  uttered 
the  absurd  declaration  that  the  soldiery  of  the  North  and  West 
should  pass  over  my  dead  body  before  they  should  invade  the 
Southern  States.  I  denied  it  then,  and  will  not  repeat  the 
denial  now. 

"  Nor  need  I  refer  again  to  that  other  charge  that  I  had 
uttered,  in  debate  here  or  elsewhere,  the  sentiment  that  I  pre 
ferred  peace  to  the  Union ;  I  have  heretofore  met  that  charge 
with  a  prompt  and  emphatic  contradiction,  and  no  evidence 
Jias  been  found  to  sustain  it.  Referring  to  that  and  other 
charges  and  insinuations  on  the  7th  of  January  last,  I  said  to 
my  colleague : 

" <  As  to  my  record  here  at  the  extra  session  or  during  the 
present  session,  it  remains  and  will  remain/ 

"And just  here,  Sir,  in  reference  to  the  speech  to  which  the 
gentleman  alluded,  delivered  on  this  floor  in  the  exercise  of  my 
constitutional  right  as  a  member  of  this  House,  on  the  10th 
of  July  last,  I  defy  him — I  hurl  the  defiance  into  his  teeth  — 
to  point  to  one  single  disloyal  sentiment  or  sentence  in  it.  I 
proceeded  to  say,  further,  on  the  7th  of  last  month  : 

" '  I  do  neither  retract  one  sentiment  that  I  have  uttered, 
nor  would  I  obliterate  a  single  vote  which  I  have  given.  I 
speak  of  the  record  as  it  will  appear  hereafter,  and  indeed 
stands  now  upon  the  Journals  of  this  House  and  in  the  Con 
gressional  Globe.  And  there  is  no  other  record,  thank  God, 
and  no  act  or  word  or  thought  of  mine,  and  never  has  been 
from  the  beginning,  in  public  or  private,  of  which  any  patriot 
ought  to  be  ashamed.  Sir,  it  is  the  record  as  I  made  it,  and 
as  it  exists  here  to-day  5  and  not  as  a  mendacious  and  shame 
less  press  have  attempted  to  make  it  up  for  me.  Let  us  see 
who  will  grow  tired  of  his  record  first.  Consistency,  firmness, 
and  sanity  in  the  midst  of  general  madness  —  these  made  up 
my  offence.  But  "  Time,  the  avenger,"  sets  all  things  even ; 
and  I  abide  his  leisure/ 

"  And  am  I  now  to  be  told,  that  because  of  a  speech  made 
upon  this  floor,  under  the  protection  of  the  Constitution,  in  the 
exercise  and  discharge  of  my  solemn  right  and  duty  under  the 


188  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

oath  which  I  have  taken,  that  I  am  to-day  to  be  arraigned  here, 
and  the  accusation  supported  by  the  addition  of  mere  vague 
rumors  and  suspicions  which  have  been  bruited  over  and  over 
again,  as  I  have  said,  against  not  myself  only  but  against 
hundreds  and  thousands  also  of  other  most  patriotic  and  loyal 
men? 

"  The  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  makes  the  charge  that 
I  attended  a  certain  dinner  in  the  State  of  Kentucky.  Sir,  I 
was  invited  to  that  State,  and  have  been  frequently,  by  as  true 
and  loyal  men  as  there  are  in  that  State  to-day.  I  accepted  no 
invitation,  and  never  went  at  all.  I  have  already  named  the 
last  and  only  time  when  I  stood  upon  the  soil  of  Kentucky. 
But  I  know  of  nothing  now  —  whatever  there  may  have  been 
in  the  past  —  certainly  nothing  to-day  about  Kentucky  that 
should  prevent  a  loyal  and  patriotic  man  from  visiting  a  State 
which  has  given  birth  or  residence  to  so  many  patriots,  to  so 
many  statesmen,  and  to  orators  of  such  renown. 

"  Yet  that  is  all  the  grand  aggregate  of  the  charges,  except 
this  miserable  falsehood  which  some  wretched  scavenger,  prowl-  s 
ing  about  the  streets  and  alleys  and  gutters  of  the  city  of  Balti 
more,  has  seen  fit  to  put  forth  in  the  local  columns  of  a  contemp 
tible  newspaper ;  so  that  the  member  from  Pennsylvania  may 
rise  in  his  place  and  prefer  charges  against  the  loyalty  and 
patriotism  of  a  man  who  has  never  faltered  in  his  devotion  to 
the  flag  of  his  country  —  to  that  flag  which  hangs  now  upon 
the  wall  over  against  him ;  one  who  has  bowed  down  and  wor 
shipped  this  holy  emblem  of  the  Constitution  and  of  the  old 
Union  of  these  States  in  his  heart's  core,  ay,  in  his  very  heart 
of  hearts,  from  the  time  he  first  knew  aught  to  this  hour ;  and 
who  now  would  give  life  and  all  that  he  has  or  hopes  to  be  in 
the  present  or  the  future,  to  see  that  glorious  banner  of  the 
Union  —  known  and  honored  once  over  the  whole  earth  and 
the  whole  sea — with  no  stripe  erased  and  not  one  star  blotted 
out,  floating  forever  over  the  free,  united,  harmonious  old  Union 
of  every  State  once  a  part  of  it,  and  a  hundred  more  yet  unborn. 
I  am  that  man ;  and  yet  he  dares  to  demand  that  I  shall  be 
brought  up  before  the  secret  tribunal  of  the  Judiciary  Commit 
tee —  that  committee  of  which  he  is  Chairman,  and  thus  both 
judge  and  accuser — to  answer  to  the  charge  of  disloyalty  to 
the  Union! 

"  Sir,  I  hurl  back  the  insinuation.     Bring  forward  the  spe- 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  189 

cific  charge ;  wait  till  you  have  found  something  —  and  you 
will  wait  long — something  which  I  have  written,  or  something 
I  have  said,  that  would  indicate  anything  in  my  bosom  which 
he  who  loves  his  country  ought  not  to  read  or  hear.  In  every 
sentiment  that  I  have  expressed,  in  every  vote  that  I  have 
given  in  my  whole  public  life,  outside  this  House  before  I  was 
a  member  of  it,  and  since  it  has  been  my  fortune  to  sit  here,  I 
have  had  but  one  motive,  and  that  was  the  real,  substantial, 
permanent  good  of  my  country.  I  have  differed  with  the  ma 
jority  of  the  House,  differed  with  the  party  in  power,  differed 
with  the  Administration,  as,  thank  God,  I  do  and  have  the 
right  to  differ,  as  to  the  best  means  of  preserving  the  Union, 
and  of  maintaining  the  Constitution  and  securing  the  best  in 
terests  of  my  country;  and  that  is  my  offence,  that  the  crime 
and  the  only  crime  of  which  I  have  been  guilty. 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  if  in  the  Thirty-fifth  Congress  I  or  some 
other  member  had  seen  fit  to  seize  upon  the  denunciations, 
long-continued,  bitter  and  persistent,  against  that  member 
[Mr.  Hickman] — for  he  too  has  suffered,  and  he  too  ought 
to  have  remembered  in  this  the  hour  of  sore  persecution  that 
he  himself  has  been  the  victim  of  slanders  and  detraction,  per- 
ad venture — for,  Sir,  I  would  do  him  the  justice  which  he  de 
nies  to  me  —  what,  I  say,  if  I  had  risen  and  made  a  vile  para 
graph  in  some  paper  published  in  his  own  town,  or  elsewhere, 
the  subject  of  inquiry  and  investigation,  and  had  attempted 
to  cast  yet  further  suspicion  upon  him  by  reference  to  language 
uttered  here  in  debate,  which  he  had  the  right  to  utter,  or  by 
charges  vague  and  false,  and  without  the  shadow  of  a  founda 
tion  except  the  malignant  breath  of  partisan  suspicion  and 
slander,  what  would  have  been  his  record  in  the  volumes  of 
your  reports  and  the  Congressional  Globe,  going  down  to  his 
children  after  him  ?  But,  Sir,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  the 
gentleman  to  tarnish  the  honor  of  my  name,  or  to  blast  the 
fair  fame  and  character  for  loyalty  which  I  have  earned,  dearly 
earned  with  labor  and  patience  and  faith,  from  the  beginning 
of  my  public  career.  From  my  boyhood,  at  all  times  and  in 
every  place,  I  have  never  looked  to  anything  but  the  perma 
nent,  solid,  and  real  interests  of  my  country. 

"  Beyond  this,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  deem  it  unnecessary  to  extend 
what  I  have  to  say.  I  would  have  said  not  a  word  but  that 
I  know  this  committee  will  find  nothing,  and  that  they  will 


190  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

be  obliged  therefore  to  report — a  majority  of  them  cheer  fully, 
I  doubt  not  —  that  nothing  exists  to  justify  any  charge  or 
suspicion  such  as  the  member  from  Pennsylvania  has  suggested 
here  to-day.  I  avail  myself  of  the  occasion  thus  forced  on  me, 
to  repel  this  foul  and  slanderous  assault  upon  my  loyalty, 
promptly,  earnestly,  indignantly,  yes,  scornfully,  and  upon  the 
very  threshold.  Sir,  I  do  not  choose  to  delay  week  after  week 
until  your  partisan  press  shall  have  sounded  the  alarm,  and 
until  an  organization  shall  have  been  effected  for  the  purpose 
of  dragooning  two-thirds  of  this  House  into  an  outrage  upon 
the  rights  of  one  of  the  Representatives  of  the  people  which  is 
without  example  except  in  the  worst  of  times.  I  meet  it  and 
hurl  it  back  defiantly  here  and  now. 

"  Why,  Sir,  suppose  that  the  course  which  the  member  from 
Pennsylvania  now  proposes  had  been  pursued  in  many  cases 
Avhich  I  could  name  in  years  past ;  suppose  that  his  had  been 
the  standard  of  accusation,  and  irresponsible  newspaper  para 
graphs  had  been  regarded  as  evidence  of  disloyalty  or  want  of 
attachment  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Union :  what  would 
have  been  the  fate  of  some  members  of  this  House,  or  certain 
Senators  at  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol,  in  years  past  ?  What 
punishment  might  not  have  been  meted  out  to  the  pre 
decessor  [Mr.  Giddings]  of  my  colleague  on  the  other  side  of 
the  House  [Mr.  Hutchings]?  How  long  would  he  have 
occupied  a  seat  here  ?  Where  would  the  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts  [Mr.  Sumner]  have  been  ?  t  Where  the  other  Senator 
from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Wilson]  ?  Where  the  Senator  from 
New  Hampshire  [Mr.  Hale]?  Where  the  three  Senators. 
Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Chase,  and  Mr.  Hale,  two  of  them  now  in  the 
Cabinet  and  the  other  in  the  Senate  still,  who  in  1850,  twelve 
years  ago,  on  the  llth  of  February,  voted  to  receive,  refer, 
print,  and  consider  a  petition  praying  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union  of  these  States  ?  Yet  I  am  to  be  singled  out  now  by 
these  very  men,  or  their  minions,  for  attack ;  and  they  who 
have  waited  and  watched  and  prayed,  day  by  day,  with  the 
vigilance  of  the  hawk  and  the  scent  of  the  hyena,  from  the 
beginning  of  this  great  revolt,  that  they  might  catch  some 
unguarded  remaik,  some  idle  word  spoken,  something  written 
thoughtlessly  or  carelessly,  some  secret  thought  graven  yet 
upon  the  lineaments  of  my  face  which  they  might  torture  into 
evidence  of  disloyalty,  seize  now  upon  the  foul  and  infectious 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  ,191 

gleanings  of  an  anonymous  wretch  who  earns  a  precarious 
subsistence  by  feeding  the  local  columns  of  a  pestilent  news 
paper,  and  while  it  is  yet  wet  from  the  press,  hurry  it,  reeking 
with  falsehood,  into  this  House,  and  seek  to  dignify  it  with  an 
importance  demanding  the  consideration  of  the  House  and  of 
the  country. 

"  Sir,  let  the  member  from  Pennsylvania  go  on.  I  chal 
lenge  the  inquiry,  unworthy  of  notice  as  the  charge  is,  but  I 
scorn  the  spirit  which  has  provoked  it.  Let  it  go  on." 

Mr.  Hickman  then  replied  briefly,  and  in  the  course  of  his 
remarks  said : — 

"As  the  gentleman  nas  called  upon  me,  1  will  answer 
further.  Does  he  not  know  of  a  camp  in  Kentucky  having 
been  called  by  his  name  —  that  disloyal  men  there  called  their 
camp,  Camp  Vallandigham  ?  That  would  not  indicate  that  in 
Kentucky  they  regarded  him  as  a  man  loyal  to  the  Federal 
Union. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigliam. —  Is  not  there  a  town,  and  it  may  be  a 
camp  too,  in  Kentucky  by  the  name  of  Hickman  ?  [Laughter.] 

"Mr.  Hickman. —  Thank  God,  disloyal  men  have  never 
called  one  of  their  camps  by  my  name.  There  are  a  great  many 
Hickmans  in  Kentucky,  but  I  have  not  the  pleasure  of  their 
acquaintance.  I  have  heard  of  but  one  Yallandigham. 

"Mr.  Vattandigham. —  And  there  arc  a  great  many  Val- 
landighams  there  too." 

Mr.  Hickman,  after  a  few  words  further,  withdrew  his 
resolution,  and  there  the  matter  ended. 

This  resolution,  though  wholly  without  notice,  gave  Mr. 
Yallandigham  the  fit  occasion,  long  waited  for,  to  defend  him 
self  from  the  suspicions  and  calumnies  to  which  he  had  so  long 
been  exposed,  and  he  improved  it  to  the  utmost;  and  with  un 
disturbed  self-possession  and  dignity,  but  in  tones  the  most 
earnest  and  indignant,  retorted  with  so  much  vigor  and  spirit 
upon  his  accuser  that  he  was  glad  to  escape  by  withdrawing 
the  resolution.  The  rencontre  was  of  very  great  advantage 


192  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

to  Mr.  Vallandigham,  and  was  the  first  break  in  the  cloud 
which  hitherto  had  rested  over  him.  His  allusion  to  the  flag 
which  hung  above  the  Speaker's  seat,  forced  admiration  from 
even  a  hostile  House  and  galleries.  As  he  sat  down  he  heard 
a  friend  say,  "He  has  not  made  a  mistake  nor  spoken  an  ill- 
advised  word  from  the  beginning."  Friends  gathered  around 
and  congratulated  him  on  his  triumph,  and  in  the  evening  a 
large  number  called  upon  him  at  his  residence  to  renew  their 
assurances  of  regard  and  esteem,  and  to  express  their  gratifica 
tion  at  the  handsome  manner  in  which  he  had  repelled  the 
assault  that  had  been  made  upon  him. 

In  a  letter  to  his  wife  next  day,  Mr.  Vallandigham  thus 
refers  to  the  matter  : — 

"...  You  see  by  the  papers  this  morning,  I  presume,  that 
Hickman  and  I  had  a  bout  in  the  House  yesterday.  You  will 
see  it  in  full  in  the  Globe,  but  cannot  ^realise  the  scene.  ...  I 
was  never  more  gratified  in  my  life  with  any  result.  In  an 
instant  every  Democrat  in  the  House  took  fire,  resenting  it  as 
an  outrage  upon  himself.  Corning  was  much  excited,  and  old 
Governor  Crittenden  was  deeply  interested,  and  was  just  taking 
the  floor  for  a  speech  in  my  behalf  when  Hickman  surrendered 
and  withdrew  his  resolution.  I  never  spoke  or  bore  myself 
better  in  my  life — so  all  say,  and  so  I  believe  too — though  it 
was  a  sudden  emergency.  Many  Kepublicans  complimented  me, 
and  last  night  all  the  Democrats  of  the  House,  except  a  few  who 
could  not  get  out,  called  round  and  spent  an  hour  or  so  in  con 
gratulation.  It  was  a  signal  triumph  ;  but  the  truth  in  regard 
to  it  will  not  find  its  way  into  the  newspapers.  Very  probably 
it  will  be  all  misrepresented.  But  some  day  the  country  will 
understand  it,  just  as  all  who  were  present  now  do.  They  will 
let  me  alone  by-and-bye." 

On  the  21st  of  April  Mr.  Wade,  of  Ohio,  attacked  him  in 
the  Senate;  on  the  24th  Mr.  "Vallandigham  replied  in  the 
House,  and  the  character  of  the  reply  was  such  that  an  attempt 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  193 

was  made  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  upon  him.  The  whole 
proceeding  in  the  case,  from  the  official  record  in  the  Con 
gressional  Globe,  we  here  give : — 

"  HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVES. 
"  THURSDAY,  April  24th,  1862. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  waited  patiently 
for  three  days  for  this  the  earliest  occasion  presented  for  a  per 
sonal  explanation. 

"In  a  speech  delivered  in  this  city  the  other  day — not  in  this 
House — certainly  not  in  the  Senate?  —  no  such  speech  could 
have  been  tolerated  in  an  American  Senate — I  find  the  fol 
lowing  : — 

" '  I  accuse  them  [the  Democratic  party]  of  a  deliberate  purpose  to  assail, 
through  the  judicial  tribunals  and  through  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States,  and  everywhere  else,  and  to  overawe, 
intimidate,  and  trample  under  foot,  if  they  can,  the  men  who  boldly  stand 
forth  in  defence  of  their  country,  now  imperilled  by  this  gigantic  rebellion. 
I  have  watched  it  long.  I  have  seen  it  in  secret.  I  have  seen  its  move 
ments  ever  since  that  party  got  together,  with  a  colleague  of  mine  in  the 
other  House  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  —  a  man  w7u> 
never  liad  any  sympathy  with  tJie  Republic,  but  whose  every  breath  is  devoted  to 
its  destruction  Just  as  far  as  his  lieart  dare  permit  him  to  go? 

"Now,  Sir,  here  in  my  place  in  the  House,  and  as  a  Repre 
sentative,  I  denounce — and  I  speak  it  advisedly — the  author 
of  that  speech  as  a  liar,  a  scoundrel,  and  a  coward.  His  name 
is  BENJAMIN  F.  WADE. 

"  [After  the  transaction  of  some  other  business,  the  follow 
ing  proceedings  took  place : — ] 

"  PERSONAL   EXPLANATION. 

"  Mr.  Slake. — Mr.  Speaker,  a  short  time  since,  when  my 
colleague  [Mr.  Vallandigham]  got  the  floor  and  made  some 
desultory  remarks 

"  Mr.  Cox.— What  is  before  the  House  ? 

"  The  Speaker  pro  tempore. — For  what  purpose  does  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Blake]  rise  ? 

"  Mr.  Blake. — For  a  personal  explanation. 

"  The  Speaker  pro  tempore. — Is  there  objection? 

13 


194  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — If  it  relates  to  me,  I  shall,  of 
course,  have  the  same  privilege  extended  to  me,  and  with  that 
understanding  I  have  no  objection. 

"  The  Speaker  pro  tempore. — Is  there  any  objection  to  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio  making  a  personal  explanation  ? 

"  Mr.  Cox.- — I  will  not  object  if  the  same  privilege  be  ex 
tended  to  my  colleague  [Mr.  Vallandigham]  to  make  a  reply. 

"  There  was  no  objection. 

"  Mr.  Blake. — Mr.  Speaker,  I  was  not  aware,  when  my  col 
league  [Mr.  Vallandigham]  commenced  his  remarks,  that  he 
referred  to  a  member  of  Congress.  I  understood  him  to  say 
distinctly  that  no  member  of  this  House  had  made  the  remarks 
to  which  he  referred,  and  that  certainly  they  were  not  made  in 
the  Senate,  because  the  Senate  would  not  tolerate  such  remarks. 
I  therefore  paid  little  attention  to  my  colleague  till  he  came  to 
the  close  of  his  remarks  wherein  he  denounced  a  Senator  from 
Ohio  as  (  a  liar,  a  scoundrel,  and  a  coward.'  Now,  I  wish  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  fact  that  my  colleague 
perpetrated  these  remarks  on  the  House  under  the  false  pre 
text  that  they  were  not  made  in  reference  to  a  member  of  Con 
gress. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  call  the  gentleman  to  order. 

"  The  Speaker  pro  tempore. — On  what  ground  does  the  gen 
tleman  call  his  colleague  to  order  ? 

''  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Because  he  states  that  I  uttered  that 
sentence  under  a  false  pretext.  I  will  take  down  the  gentle 
man's  words. 

"  Mr.  Blake. — I  desire  to  change  that  a  little.  If  my  col 
league  wishes  me  to  be  more  explicit,  I  will  utter  something 
which  my  colleague  may  take  down.  I  say,  then,  Mr.  Speaker, 
that  my  colleague  uttered  the  remarks  which  he  made  in  refer 
ence  to  the  Senator  from  Ohio  under  the  false  declaration  that 
they  were  not  to  be  made  in  reference  to  any  member  of  Con 
gress. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  call  the  member  from  Ohio  to  or- 
<der,  on  the  ground  that  his  remarks  are  of  personal  application 
to  me,  and  I  call  for  the  decision  of  the  Chair  on  that  point. 

"  The  Speaker  pro  tempore. — The  gentleman  on  the  left  will 
proceed  in  order. 

•"  Mr.  Blake. — I  sought  the  floor  immediately  after  the  gen 
tleman  dropped  into  his  seat  for  the  purpose  of  calling  him  to 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM  195 

order,  and  for  the  purpose  of  having  the  words  uttered  by  him 
in  reference  to  the  Senator  from  Ohio  taken  down.  I  have 
since  constantly  sought  the  floor,  but  this  is  the  first  opportu 
nity  I  have  had  to  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  mat 
ter.  In  doing  so  now,  I  ask  that  the  remarks  of  the  gentle 
man  from  Ohio,  my  colleague,  may  be  taken  down  in  order 
that  the  House  may  take  subsequent  action  thereupon.  I  de 
sire,  however,  first  to  say  to  him  and  to  the  House  that  his 
character  and  the  character  of  the  Senator  to  whom  he  has 
referred  are  well  known,  and  I  do  not  rise  here  to  repel  any 
charge  of  liar,  any  charge  of  scoundrel,  or  any  charge  of  cow 
ard,  coming  from  the  source  from  which  these  charges  now 
proceed.  The  Senator  from  Ohio  is  too  well  known  in  my 
own  State  and  in  the  United  States,  and  my  colleague  is  too 
well  known,  to  make  it  necessary  to  answer  any  declaration 
coming  from  my  colleague.  I  repeat,  they  are  both  known  to 
the  people  of  that  State,  they  are  both  known  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  and  I  am  willing  to  let  them  stand  upon  their 
own  record  for  their  own  defence. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  am  known,  Sir,  in  the  State  of 
Ohio,  having  somewhat  the  advantage  of  my  colleague  in  that 
respect.  I  am  known  to  the  people  of  my  own  city  also,  and 
I  take  occasion  to  say  that  on  the  7th  of  the  present  month  the 
issue  wa»  there  made  at  the  polls  whether  I  should  be  endorsed 
as  a  public  man  and  a  public  servant  in  my  public  conduct 
here  and  elsewhere,  and  the  verdict  of  the  people  of  that  city 
upon  that  direct  issue  wras  returned  in  my  favor  in  the  persons 
of  my  friends,  by  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and  forty-eight, 
being  a  change  since  last  October  of  six  hundred  and  forty 
votes. 

"Mr.  Blake. — Was  the  gentleman  a  candidate  in  that 
election? 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — No,  Sir,  but  the  issue  was  made 
directly,  and  if  the  gentleman  questions  it,  I  propose  to  read 
the  resolution  upon  which  it  was  made. 

"Mr.  Moorehead. — I  rise  to  a  question  of  order.  I  cannot 
see  that  this  has  anything  to  do  with  the  matter  before  the 
House. 

"The  Speaker  pro  tempore. — The  Chair  thinks  the  gentleman 
from  Ohio  is  in  order,  and  he  will  proceed. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — A  convention  was  held  in  Dayton, 


196  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

where  I  reside,  by  the  party  to  which  my  colleague  now  belongs, 
a  combination  or  fusion  of  Republicans,  and  other  elements  of  a 
mixed  character,  opposed  now  to  the  Democratic  party.  This 
regularly-called,  city  convention,  in  nominating  its  candidates, 
adopted  a  platform  containing  but  a  single  point.  It  was  extra 
ordinary,  Sir,  indeed  that  such  a  platform  should  have  been  made, 
forgetting  the  high  purposes  of  an  election,  and  containing  but 
a  single  issue,  and  that  merely  personal  to  a  fellow-citizen, 
appealing  to  the  people  of  that  city  to  vote  for  candidates  solely 
on  that  personal  issue.  The  platform  was  in  these  words : 

"  'Resolved,  That  we  will  take  the  occasion  of  our  ensuing  city  election 
to  make  it  known  to  all  men  that  the  city  of  Dayton  repudiates  Clement 
L.  Vallandigham  and  his  organ,  the  Dayton  Empire,  and  rebukes  them  for 
their  refusal  to  support  the  Government  in  its  death-struggle  with  trea 
son  ;  and  to  the  end  that  this  rebuke  may  be  made  the  more  emphatic,  we 
call  upon  all  loyal  men,  without  respect  to  party,  to  vote  for  the  Union, 
anti-Yallandigham,  anti-Empire  ticket  this  day  nominated.' 

"  Sir,  that  direct  issue  thus  proffered  was  openly,  flatly  and 
boldly  accepted  by  my  friends,  and  after  a  violent  contest  of 
three  weeks,  the  election  resulted  in  the  success  of  the  entire 
Democratic  ticket,  from  Mayor  down,  upon  the  sole  question, 
by  an  average  majority  of  some  two  hundred,  against  four 
hundred  and  ninety-twTo  fusion  majority  at  the  State  election 
last  fall.  The  issue  was  indeed  unworthy  even  of  a  municipal 
election,  and  it  is  not  fit  that  it  should  be  named  here,  except 
in  reply  to  the  member  from  Ohio.  That,  Sir,  is  all  that  I 
have  to  say  in  regard  to  it. 

"  The  request  of  my  colleague  that  my  words  may  now  be 
taken  down,  comes  quite  too  late.  The  rule  upon  this  subject 
is  emphatic.  And  although  I  am  ready  to  meet  here  and 
elsewhere  any  responsibility  that  may  arise  from  anything  I 
have  uttered,  yet  my  colleague  shall  not  deprive  me  of  my  con 
stitutional  rights  as  a  member  of  this  House. 

"Mr.  Slake. — I  should  like  to  know  what  my  colleague 
means  by  elsewhere.  I  know  of  no  place  to  meet  these  issues 
but  here. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — "Well,  Sir,  this  city  is  several  square 
miles  in  circumfeience,  the  District  of  Columbia  is  some 
what  larger,  the  State  of  Ohio  includes  a  yet  more  extended 
area  of  territory,  and  the  United  States  are  very  much  larger 
still.  I  believe  that  covers  all  that  comes  under  the  denomina 
tion  of  { elsewhere,'  so  far  as  regards  my  present  purposes.  I 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  197 

mean  outside  of  the  House.  I  need  say  nothing  more  beyond 
tnat  now.  Any  explanation  or  negotiation  demanded  or  pro 
posed  outside  of  the  House  will,  of  course,  be  responded  to 
according  to  the  manner  in  which  it  may  happen  to  be  pre 
sented.  I  neither  seek  nor  shun  controversy  with  any  gentle 
man.  Anything  done  inside  must  be  settled  in  accordance  with 
the  Constitution,  the  laws,  and  the  rules  of  the  House. 

"  Now,  in  the  first  place,  I  deny  that  I  have  violated  any 
rule.  I  took  a  paper  and  read  from  a  printed  speech  that  which 
related  to  me  personally,  and  which  contained  a  foul  and  infa 
mous  libel  which  the  utterer  knew  at  the  time  to  be  false  and 
slanderous.  He,  the  member  from  Ohio,  talks  now,  indeed,  of 
the  opprobrium  of  the  epithets  'liar/  '  scoundrel/  and  'coward!7 
Does  he  not  know  that  the  word  'traitor'  enters  here  now  cov 
ered  ten  times  over  with  the  leprosy  of  reproach ;  and  am  I  to 
stand  in  this  Hall  unmoved  while  that  epithet  is  insinuated 
against  me,  in  all  its  taint  and  foulness,  by  a  member  of  the 
Senate,  it  may  be,  where  I  have  no  chance  to  meet  and  hurl  it 
back  on  the  spot  as  it  deserves  ?  Am  I  to  bear  it  calmly  any 
longer,  uttered  by  any  responsible  person  ?  I  tell  you,  nay ! 
And  when  I  choose  to  meet  and  brand  it  as  a  man  and  as  a  gen 
tleman  should  meet  and  brand  it,  am  I  to  be  called  in  question 
here  and  the  first  offender  go  acquit  ?  Sir,  I  referred  to  the 
man,  not  to  the  Senator.  My  manner  of  allusion  was  in  accor 
dance  with  ancient  parliamentary  usage ;  and  if  the  member 
from  Ohio  had  known  anything  about  parliamentary  usage,  he 
would  have  known  that  following  the  practice  of  the  Irish  and 
the  British  Parliaments,  I  said  nothing  for  which  I  could  pro 
perly  be  called  to  order  in  debate.  I  put  a  suppositions  case, 
and  no  man  can,  under  parliamentary  precedent,  object  to  it. 
That,  Sir,  is  my  first  answei 

"  But  I  scorn  to  stand  upon  that  point  alone.  If  what  I  said 
has  been  out  of  order,  let  the  member  from  Ohio  go  to  the  Senate 
first,  and  there  vindicate  the  violated  obligations  of  parlia 
mentary  decorum.  Is  it  disorderly  for  a  member  of  this  House 
to  refer  to  a  member  of  the  Senate  and  yet  exactly  in  order  for  a 
Senator  to  denounce  a  member  of  this  House,  who  sits  here  not 
by  your  consent  —  although  you  have  the  right  to  expel  him, 
two-thirds  concurring,  if  he  has  been  guilty  of  a  sufficiently 
grave  offence  —  but  under  the  same  Constitution  and  laws,  and 
by  the  equal,  nay,  better  title  of  the  will  of  the  people  —  is  he  to 


198  LIFE,  OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

be  denounced  as  a  '  man  who  never  had  any  sympathy  with  this 
Republic,  and  whose  every  breath  is  devoted  to  its  destruction, 
just  as  far  as  his  heart  dare  permit  him  to  go  '  ?  And  has  the 
member  from  Ohio  no  holy  indignation  against  a  Senator  who 
has  thus  wantonly,  and  in  violation  of  all  parliamentary  law, 
slandered  a  Representative  in  this  House?  Sir,  let  him  go  to 
the  Senate  where  those  false  words  were  uttered,  if  they  were 
uttered  in  the  Senate,  and  let  him  see  to  it  that  that  body  shall 
first  vindicate  its  obligations  to  the  members  of  this  House, 
before  he  dares  to  call  me  to  a  reckoning  for  words  spoken  in 
retort  here.  How  does  he  know  that  the  words  spoken  by  me 
had  reference  to  a  Senator  ?  But  no ;  suppose  they  had,  what 
of  it  ?  Was  not  the  retaliation  j  ust  what  he  deserved  ?  Could 
anything  less  have  expiated  the  offence  ?  Sir,  I  spoke  of  him 
as  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  an  individual,  a  citizen  of  my  own 
State,  and  made  no  allusion  to  him  as  a  Senator.  He  was  the 
aggressor ;  he  provoked  the  retaliation,  and  it  was  deserved.  I 
pass  by  his  assault  upon  the  Democratic  party.  That  party 
will  take  care  of  itself. 

"  But,  Sir,  independent  of  all  this,  if  I  were  out  of  order,  it 
is  too  late,  under  the  positive  and  peremptory  language  of  your 
rules,  to  make  inquisition  into  it  now.  I  repeat  again,  that 
assailed  as  I  have  been,  persecuted  and  hounded  as  I  have  been 
for  twelve  months  past,  not  to  speak  of  former  years,  I  have  a 
right  to  throw  myself  back  immovably  upon  the  strictest  law 
of  parliamentary  proceeding,  and  insist  upon  every  right  and 
privilege  which  the  Constitution,  the  laws  and  the  rules  of  this 
House  give  to  me.  The  62d  rule  of  the  House  is  peremptory 
upon  this  subject.  It  is  in  these  words : — 

"' If  a  member  be  called  to  order  for  words  spoken  in  debate,  the 

Eerson  calling  him  to  order  shall  repeat  the  words  excepted  to,  and  they  shall 
e  taken  down  in  writing  at  the  Clerk's  table .  and  no  member  shall  be  held 
to  answer,  or  be  subject  to  the  censure  of  the  House,  for  words  spoken  in  de 
bate,  if  any  other  member  has  spoken,  or  other  business  has  intervened,  after 
the  words  spoken,  and  before  exception  to  them  shall  have  been  taken.' 

"  There  is  the  rule,  Sir,  and  there  is  no  evading  it.  It  has 
been  acted  upon  in  this  House  on  several  occasions.  The 
question  was  decided  once,  when  the  words  were  applied  to  a 
member  of  the  House  in  his  presence,  and  yet  under  the  rule 
and  because  the  words  excepted  to  were  not  at  once  taken  down, 
the  House  did  not  inflict  its  censure,  as  in  that  case  it  other- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  199 

wise  deservedly  might  have  done.  In  another  case,  Mr. 
Sherman,  of  Ohio,  instantly  rose  and  demanded  that  the  ob 
jectionable  words  should  be  taken  down,  when  uttered  by  Mr. 
Houston  of  Alabama.  They  were  taken  down  and  censure 
moved,  but  the  motion  was  finally  withdrawn  after  explana 
tions,  and  the  case  thus  disposed  of.  Such,  Sir,  is  the  rule, 
and  the  practice  under  it ;  and  yet  my  colleague  comes  now 
here  and  asks  that  the  Constitution  shall  be  violated,  which 
authorises  and  requires  this  House  to  establish  its  rules ;  and 
the  rules  themselves  over-ridden.  And  for  what  ?  To  cen 
sure  me  for  words  spoken  of  one  who  has  basely  traduced  my 
character  as  a  loyal  citizen  and  Representative,  and  made  a 
charge  against  me  which  I  choose  hereafter  to  meet  only  just  as 
I  have  met  it  to-day. 

"  Sir,  the  accusation  which  he  preferred  he  knew  coma  not 
be  established.  This  House  had  failed  even  to  make  inquisi 
tion  into  it,  because  it  was  without  even  a  decent  pretext  for 
inquisition.  He  knew  that  when  a  resolution  of  inquiry 
merely  was  offered  here,  it  was  withdrawn  by  the  mover  after 
debate.  He  knew  all  that,  and  yet  wantonly  and  without 
provocation  renewed  the  charge  of  disloyalty. 

"  Sir,  the  rule  declares  that  the  words  must  be  taken  down 
at  the  time.  They  cannot  be  reduced  to  writing  after  another 
member  has  spoken,  or  other  business  has  intervened.  No 
censure  can  be  inflicted  for  words  taken  down  an  hour  after 
wards,  and  not  at  the  Clerk's  desk.  On  that  subject  I  am 
perfectly  indifferent,  and  it  is  with  the  utmost  reluctance  that  I 
throw  myself  upon  the  indulgence  of  the  House  to  make  this 
explanation.  The  gentleman  has  made  his.  I  have  made 
mine,  and  am  content.  Whenever  the  Senator  from  Ohio 

"  T7ie  Speaker  pro  tempore. — The  gentleman  is  out  of  order 
in  alluding  to  a  member  of  the  Senate. 

"  Mr.  Vattandigham. — I  could  not  avoid  it  after  the  refer 
ence  to  him  as  Senator  by  my  colleague ;  but  I  retract  it. 
Whenever  Benjamin  F.  Wade 

"  The  Speaker  pro  tempore. — The  gentleman  is  again  out  of 
order.  *• 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  have  not  finished  the  sentence. 
Whenever  Benjamin  F.  Wade  shall  take  back  the  false  and 
slanderous  accusation  which  he  has  made  against  me,  I  will 
take  back  the  one  I  have  applied  to  him ;  but  not  before. 


200  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  Mr.  Blake. — I  have  not  desired  to  do  my  colleague  injus 
tice.  I  was  amazed  to  hear  the  remarks  which  fell  from  his 
lips  in  regard  to  the  Senator  from  Ohio.  I  felt,  as  a  Kepre- 
sentative  from  Ohio,  that  that  State  had  been  insulted  — 
shamefully  insulted  —  by  the  remarks  which  fell  from  my  col 
league's  lips. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — May  I  ask  a  question? 

"  Mr.  Blake.— Wait  until  I  get  through. 
'  "  I  have  not  read  the  speech  to  which  the  gentleman  refers. 
My  colleague  said  that  that  speech  was  not  made  here,  nor  wras 
it  made  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  because,  as  he  said, 
such  remarks  would  not  be  tolerated  in  that  body.  I  had  a 
right  to  presume  that  no  such  remarks  as  he  was  about  to 
characterise  would  fall  from  a  Senator's  lips.  Since  I  heard 
his  remarks,  I  have  obtained  the  floor  as  soon  as  I  could,  to 
call  him  to  order  and  have  his  words  taken  down.  I  do  not 
desire  to  do  my  colleague  injustice,  but  I  will  say  this  :  I  infer 
from  the  remarks  that  he  has  made  that  the  Senator  from  Ohio 
has  characterised  him  as  a  traitor.  Am  I  right  ? 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — The  language  of  Benjamin  F.  Wade 
was,  that  I  was  a  man  who  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
country. 

"  The  Speaker  pro  tempore. — Both  the  gentlemen  from  Ohio 
are  out  of  order. 

"Mr.  Blake. — I  desire  to  say  that  three-fourths  of  the 
people  of  Ohio  look  upon  my  colleague  in  the  same  light. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Three-fourths  of  the  people  there 
denounce  the  gentleman  as  an  Abolition  disunionist. 

"  Mr.  Hutchins  obtained  the  floor. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  ask  the  gentleman  to  yield  to  me. 

"Mr.  Hutchins. — I  decline.  I  rise  to  a  question  of  privilege, 
and  offer  for  adoption  the  following  resolution ;  and  on  its 
adoption  I  demand  the  previous  question : 

" '  WfiereaS)  Hon.  C.  L.VALLANDTGHAM,  a  member  of  this  House,  of  the 
State  of  Ohio,  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  made  use  of  the  following  lan 
guage  concerning  Hon.  B  F.  WADE,  a  Senator  in  Congress : 

" '  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  waited  patiently  for  three  days  for  this  the 
earliest  occasion  presented  for  a  personal  explanation.  In  a  speech  deliv 
ered  in  this  city —  not  in  this  House  —  certainly  not  in  the  Senate  —  no 
such  speech  could  have  been  tolerated  in  an  American  Senate  —  I  find  the 

following: 

#  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

" '  Now,  Sir,  here  in  my  place  in  the  House  and  as  a  Representative,  I 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  201 

denounce  —  and  I  speak  it  advisedly  —  the  author  of  that  speech  as  a  liar, 
a  scoundrel,  and  a  coward.    His  name  is  BENJAMIN  F.  WADE.    * 

,  "  *  And  whereas  said  remarks  are  a  violation  of  the  rules  of  this  House, 
and  a  breach  of  its"  decorum,  and  deserve  the  censure  of  'the  House ; 
Therefore, 

"  *  Resolved,  That  C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM,  for  said  violation  of  the  rules 
of  the  House  and  its  decorum,  is  deserving  of  censure,  and  is  hereby 
censured.' 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  make  the  point  that  the  resolution 
is  not  in  order  under  the  following  rule : 

" '  62.  If  a  member  be  called  to  order  for  words  spoken  in  debate,  the 
person  calling  him  to  order  shall  repeat  the  words  excepted  to,  and  they 
shall  be  taken  down  in  writing  at  the  Clerk's  table ;  and  no  member  shall 
be  held  to  answer  or  be  subject  to  the  censure  of  the  House,  for  words 
spoken  in  debate,  if  any  other  member  has  spoken,  or  other  business  has 
intervened,  after  the  words  spoken,  and  before  exception  to  them  shall 
have  been  taken.' 

"  And  then,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Sheffield  (at  five  o'clock  p.  M.), 
the  House  adjourned. 


FRIDAY,  April  25, 1862. 

"  The  House  met  at  twelve  o'clock  M.  Prayer  by  the  Chap 
lain,  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Stockton. 

"  The  Journal  of  yesterday  was  read  and  approved. 

"QUESTION  OF  PRIVILEGE. 

"The  Speaker. — The  question  pending  when  the  House 
adjourned  was  one  of  privilege,  raised  by  the  gentleman  from 
Ohio  [Mr.  Hutchins]  against  his  colleague  [Mr.  Vallandig 
ham.]  The  following  is  the  resolution  submitted  to  censure 
the  gentleman  from  Ohio  for  disorderly  words  spoken  in  debate 
in  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union : 

"  'Whereas,  Hon.  C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM,  a  member  of  the  House,  of  the 
State  of  Ohio,  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  made  use  of  the  following 
language  concerning  Hon.  B.  F.  WADE,  a  Senator  in  Congress : 

" '  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  waited  patiently  for  three  days  for  this  the 
earliest  occasion  presented  for  a  personal  explanation.  In  a  speech  deliv 
ered  in  this  city —  not  in  this  House  —  certainly  not  in  the  Senate  —  no 
such  speech  could  have  been  tolerated  in  an  American  Senate  —  I  find  the 
following: 

"  *  Now,  Sir,  here  in  my  place  in  the  House—  and  as  a  Representative,  I 
denounce  —  and  I  speak  it  advisedly  —  the  author  of  that  speech  as  a  liar, 
a  scoundrel,  and  a  coward.  His  name  is  BENJAMIN  F.  WADE. 


202  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  *  And  whereas,  said  remarks  are  a  violation  of  the  rules  of  this  Houst, 
and  a  breach  of  its  decorum,  and  deserve  the  censure  of  the  House : 
Therefore, 

"'  Resolved,  That  C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM,  for  said  violation  of  the  rules 
of  the  House  and  its  decorum,  is  deserving  of  censure,  and  is  hereby 
censured.' 

"On  that  resolution  the  question  of  order  is  made  that 
under  the  express  language  of  the  62d  rule  of  the  House  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio  could  not  now  be  held  to  answer,  or  be 
subject  to  the  censure  of  the  House  for  the  words  spoken, 
another  member  having  spoken  and  other  business  having  inter 
vened  before  exception  to  them  was  taken,  and  that  consequently 
the  preamble  and  the  resolution  could  not  be  entertained  by  the 
House.  The  Chair  will  have  read  the  62d  rule,  and  a  para 
graph  from  the  Manual. 

"  The  Clerk  read  as  follows : — 

'"If  a  member  be  called  to  order  for  words  spoken  in  debate,  the 
person  calling  him  to  order  shall  repeat  the  words  excepted  to,  and  they 
shall  be  taken  down  in  writing  at  the  Clerk's  table :  and  no  member  shall 
be  held  to  answer,  or  be  subject  to  the  censure  of  the  House  for  words 
spoken  in  debate,  if  any  other  member  has  spoken,  or  other  business  has 
intervened  after  the  words  spoken  and  before  exception  to  them  shall 
have  been  taken. — Sixty-Second  Mule. 

" '  Disorderly  words  spoken  in  a  Committee  must  be  written  down  as 
in  the  House,  but  the  Committee  can  only  report  them  to  the  House  for 
animadversion. — Manual,  jp.  77.' 

"The  Speaker. — The  Chair  decides,  the  gentleman  from 
Ohio  (Mr.  Hutchins)  in  his  resolution  not  having  complied 
with  either  the  rule  of  the  House  or  the  provision  of  parlia 
mentary  law,  and  therefore  the  point  of  order  is  well  taken.'' 

This  was  the  only  occasion  upon  which  Mr.  Yallandigham 
ever  departed  from  the  strictest  decorum  and  propriety  of  lan 
guage  in  the  House;  but  the  provocation  was  extreme,  and 
Wade  was  the  first  responsible  endorser  whom  he  had  found 
of  the  accumulated  falsehoods  and  detraction  of  a  whole  year. 

Mr.  Vallandigham's  friends  in  Congress  and  throughout 
the  country  wrere  greatly  pleased  with  the  ability  and  fearless 
ness  with  which  he  had  repelled  the  assault  of  AVade,  and  with 
the  tact  and  skill  he  had  exhibited  in  escaping  the  censure 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  203 

which  the  House  was  about  to  inflict  unjustly  upon  him.  On 
the  other  hand,  Mr.  Wade's  friends  were  greatly  incensed  and 
seriously  meditated  personal  violence,  but  knowing  the  courage 
of  Mr.  Vallandighain,  his  vigilance,  and  the  fact  that  he  was 
always  thoroughly  armed,  they  finally  concluded  that  "  discre 
tion  was  the  better  part  of  valor." 

One  other  attack  only  we  will  notice.  In  June,  Shellabarger 
and  Gurley,  of  Ohio,  presented  printed  petitions  from  citizens 
of  their  own  districts,  none  from  Mr.  "Vallandigham's,  asking 
for  his  expulsion  from  the  House  as  a  t(  traitor  and  a  disgrace 
to  the  State  of  Ohio."  The  petitions  were  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  consisting  of  the  following  mem 
bers  :  John  Hickman,  chairman ;  John  A.  Bingham,  William 
Kellogg,  Albert  G.  Porter,  Benjamin  F.  Thomas,  Alexander 
S.  Diven,  James  F.  Wilson,  George  H.  Pendleton,  and  Henry 
May ;  all  of  them  Republicans,  except  May  and  Pendleton. 
This  Committee,  on  the  very  same  day  on  which  the  petitions 
were  presented,  by  a  unanimous  vote  ordered  them  to  be  re 
ported  back  and  laid  upon  the  table ;  and  accordingly  on  the 
first  day  that  the  Committee  was  called,  July  3,  1862,  Mr. 
Bingham  reported  them  back,  and  on  his  motion  they  were  laid 
on  the  table,  110  evidence  whatever  of  either  "treason"  or  "dis 
grace  "  having  been  produced  to  the  Committee.  Seven  times 
during  the  session  these  attacks  were  made,  and  as  often  failed. 
Indeed,  he  himself  stated  to  a  friend  that  for  months  he  never 
heard  an  Administration  membei  address  the  Chair  without 
looking  up  to  see  if  a  resolution  for  his  censure  or  expulsion 
was  about  to  be  offered.  But  he  escaped  the  trying  ordeal 
unscathed.  It  was  said  afterwards  that  "  he  oould  not  be  de 
tected,  because  he  was  too  sharp  to  leave  his  tracks  uncovered." 


204  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  Never  make  any  tracks/7  said  he  in  reply,  "  and  none  will 
ever  be  found  out."  During  this  session,  also,  his  vigilance 
was  never  for  a  moment  relaxed.  Powerless  in  numbers  and 
influence,  he  had  but  one  weapon  —  knowledge  of  the  rules  of 
the  House,  and  skill  in  parliamentary  law ;  and  he  used  it 
with  the  utmost  efficiency. 

The  violent  public  commotion  which  followed  the  procla 
mation  of  the  15th  of  April,  1861,  the  apparent  unanimity  in 
support  of  the  war,  the  desertion  of  many  of  the  old  Demo 
cratic  leaders  and  the  fatal  timidity  of  others,  together  with 
the  specious  cry  of  "No  Party,"  had  greatly  paralysed  the 
Democratic  organization.  Its  disastrous  defeat  that  year  in 
every  State  where  elections  were  contested,  almost  dissolved  it. 
Repeated  efforts  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Yallandigham  and  the 
little  band  with  which  he  acted  to  restore  the  party,  but  all 
had  failed,  and  two  several  "  caucuses "  of  the  Democratic 
members  of  Congress  had  broken  up  in  disorder.  The  case 
was  still  more  hopeless  in  December.  But  he  closely  watched 
and  calmly  waited  for  the  opportune  moment ;  and  in  March, 
1862,  taking  advantage  of  the  rapid  and  bold  development 
of  the  real  purposes  of  the  party  in  power  in  their  various 
schemes  for  confiscation  and  emancipation,  he  drew  up  a  call 
for  a  conference  of  the  Democratic  Senators  and  Representatives, 
and  obtained  signatures  to  the  number  of  thirty-five.  The 
meeting  was  held  on  the  25th  of  March,  and  after  a  full  dis 
cussion  and  some  altercation,  it  was  resolved  that  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  party  should  be  perfected,  and  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Vallandigham  ordered  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  pre 
pare  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  But  pre 
vious  to  this  a  secret  and  concerted  effort  was  being  made  by 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLAKDIGHAM.  205 

certain  Eastern  politicians  of  the  Democratic  party,  in  combi 
nation  with  others  of  the  old  Whig  and  American  parties,  to 
disband  the  former,  and  to  consolidate  a  new  conservative  orga 
nization  with  a  new  name.  They  who  were  in  this  movement 
managed,  upon  the  pretext  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  too 
unpopular  to  be  on  the  committee,  or  indeed  to  be  recognised 
as  a  member  of  the  party,  to  postpone,  and  finally  to  defeat 
the  appointment  of  the  committee  ordered  by  the  conference. 
But  he,  and  those  who  acted  with  him,  were  not  to  be  thus 
beaten.  He  prepared  an  address  which,  after  much  delay  and 
difficulty,  was  signed  by  twelve  Democratic  Representatives 
from  the  West  (six  of  them  from  Ohio),  and  by  two  from 
Pennsylvania,  and  one  from  New  Jersey ;  all  the  other  Eastern 
members  except  one,  and  four  of  the  Western,  refusing  peremp 
torily  to  sign  it.  It  was  issued  on  the  8th  of  May,  and  three 
days  later  the  new  conservative  movement  culminated  in  a 
caucus  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  John  J. 
Crittenden  presiding.  But  the  address  was  already  before  the 
public,  and  to  the  Democratic  masses  it  was  as  the  call  of  the 
trumpet  to  battle.  The  following  is  an  extract : — 

"  Does  the  history  of  the  Democratic  party  prove  that  it 
ought  to  be  abandoned  ?  '  By  their  fruits  shall  ye  know  them.7 
Sectional  parties  do  not  achieve  Union  triumphs.  For  sixty 
years  from  the  inauguration  of  Jefferson  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1801,  the  Democratic  party,  with  short  intervals,  controlled 
the  power  and  the  policy  of  the  Federal  Government.  For 
forty-eight  years  out  of  these  sixty  Democratic  men  ruled  the 
country ;  for  fifty-four  years  and  eight  months  the  Democratic 
policy  prevailed.  During  this  period  Louisiana,  Florida, 
Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California  were  successively  annexed 
to  our  territory,  with  an  area  more  than  twice  as  large  as  all 
the  original  thirteen  States  together.  Eight  new  States  were 
admitted  under  strictly  Democratic  administrations  —  one 


206  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

under  the  administration  of  Fillniore.  From  five  millions 
the  population  increased  to  thirty-one  millions.  The  Revolu 
tionary  debt  was  extinguished.  Two  foreign  wars  were  suc 
cessfully  prosecuted,  with  a  moderate  outlay  and  a  small  army 
and  navy,  and  without  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus; 
without  one  infraction  of  the-  Constitution ;  without  one  usurpa 
tion  of  power ;  without  suppressing  a  single  newspaper ;  with 
out  imprisoning  a  single  editor;  without  limit  to  the  freedom 
of  speech  in  or  out  of  Congress,  but  in  the  midst  of  the 
grossest  abuse  of  both;  and  without  the  arrest  of  a  single 
'  traitor/  though  the  Hartford  Convention  sat  during  one  of 
the  wars,  and  in  the  other  Senators  invited  the  enemy  to 
'  greet  our  volunteers  with  bloody  hands,  and  welcome  them  to 
hospitable  graves/ 

"During  all  this  time  wealth  increased,  business  of  all 
kinds  multiplied,  prosperity  smiled  on  every  side,  taxes  were 
low,  wages  were  high,  the  North  and  the  South  furnished  a 
market  for  each  other's  products  at  good  prices ;  public  liberty 
was  secure,  private  rights  undisturbed ;  every  man's  house  was 
his  castle ;  the  courts  were  open  to  all ;  no  passports  for  travel, 
no  secret  police,  no  spies,  no  informers,  no  bastiles ;  the  right 
to  assemble  peaceably,  the  right  to  petition ;  freedom  of  reli 
gion,  freedom  of  speech,  a  free  ballot,  and  a  free  press ;  and  all 
this  time  the  Constitution  maintained  and  the  Union  of  the 
States  preserved. 

"  Such  were  the  choice  fruits  of  Democratic  principles  and 
policy,  carried  out  through  the  whole  period  during  which  the 
Democratic  party  held  the  power  and  administered  the  Federal 
Government.  Such  has  been  the  history  of  that  party.  It  is 
a  Union  party,  for  it  preserved  the  Union,  by  wisdom,  peace, 
and  compromise,  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

"  Then,  Democrats,  neither  the  ancient  principles,  the  policy, 
nor  the  past  history  of  the  Democratic  party  require  nor  would 
justify  its  disbandment. 

"  Is  there  anything  in  the  present  crisis  which  demands  it  ? 
The  more  immediate  issue  is,  To  maintain  the  Constitution  as 
it  is,  and  to  restore  the  Union  as  it  was. 

"  To  maintain  the  Constitution  is  to  respect  the  rights  of 
the  States  and  the  liberties  of  the  citizen.  It  is  to  adhere 
faithfully  to  the  very  principles  and  policy  which  the  Demo 
cratic  party  has  professed  for  more  than  half  a  century.  Let 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  207 

its  history  and  the  results  from  the  beginning  prove  whether  it 
has  practised  them.     We  appeal  proudly  to  the  record." 

Few  political  documents  have  ever  produced  a  greater  effect 
than  this  address.  The  effort  to  supersede  the  Democratic 
organization  utterly  failed.  In  every  State  Democratic  tickets 
were  put  in  nomination,  and  the  extraordinary  and  almost 
universal  successes  of  the  year  followed.  About  the  time  of 
the  publication  of  the  address,  Mr.  Vallandigham  visited 
Philadelphia  and  New  York  for  the  first  time  since  the  com 
mencement  of  the  war,  and  was  in  both  cities  and  along  the 
route  received  with  honor  by  his  friends.  In  the  latter  he 
was  tendered  a  serenade  at  the  Metropolitan  Hotel,  but  appre 
hending  that  the  war  fever  had  not  yet  sufficiently  subsided, 
he  declined  it. 

On  the  2d  of  July  Mr.  Vallandigham  left  Washington 
for  Columbus,  Ohio,  to  attend  the  Democratic  State  Conven 
tion  on  the  Fourth.  It  was  one  of  the  largest,  most  enthusi 
astic  and  harmonious  ever  convened  in  the  State.  The  delega 
tion  from  Mr.  Vallandigham's  district  alone  numbered  five 
hundred  and  fifty.  The  largest  hall  in  the  city,  crowded  to  its 
utmost  capacity,  failed  to  accommodate  more  than  one-fourth 
part  of  those  in  attendance.  It  was,  therefore,  determined, 
after  a  partial  and  temporary  organization,  to  adjourn  to  the 
State  House  grounds,  in  order  that  the  thousands  of  Demo 
crats  present  might  be  enabled  to  participate  in  and  witness 
the  proceedings  of  the  Convention.  There  Mr.  Vallandigham 
addressed  the  people  in  a  speech  wholly  extemporaneous,  but 
most  impassioned,  and  delivered  with  a  voice  and  gesture  ter 
ribly  in  earnest.  Its  effect  upon  the  audience  was  very  great. 
One  delegate  described  his  shoulders  as  bruised  and  blue  for 


208  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

several  days  from  the  spasmodic  working  of  the  fingers  of  a 
stalwart  countryman  behind  him  during  the  delivery.  The 
following  are  his  closing  remarks : — 

"  Sir,  I  have  misread  the  signs  of  the  times  and  the  temper 
of  the  people  if  there  is  not  already  a  spirit  in  the  land  which 
is  about  to  speak  in  thunder- tones  to  those  who  stretch  forth 
still  the  strong  arm  of  despotic  power,  i  Thus  far  shalt  thou 
come,  and  no  farther.  We  made  you ;  you  are  our  servants.' 
That,  Sir,  was  the  language  which  I  was  taught  to  apply  to 
men  in  office  when  I  was  a  youth,  or  in  first  manhood  and  a 
private  citizen  ;  and  afterwards  when  holding  office  as  the  gift 
of  the  people,  to  hear  applied  to  me,  and  I  bore  the  title 
proudly.  And  I  asked  then,  as  I  ask  now,  no  other  or 
better  reward  than  'Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant/ 
[Cries  of  { You  shall  have  it ;  you  deserve  it.7]  But  to-day, 
they  who  are  our  servants,  creatures  made  out  of  nothing  by 
the  power  of  the  people,  whose  little  brief  authority  was 
breathed  into  their  nostrils  by  the  people,  would  now,  forsooth, 
become  the  masters  of  the  people ;  while  the  organs  and  in 
struments  of  the  people  —  the  press  and  public  assemblages  — 
are  to  be  suppressed;  and  the  Constitution,  with  its  right  of 
petition,  and  of  due  process  of  law  and  trial  by  jury,  and  the 
laws  and  all  else  which  makes  life  worth  possessing  —  are  to 
be  sacrificed  now  upon  the  tyrant's  plea  that  it  is  necessary  to 
save  the  Government,  the  Union.  Sir,  we  did  save  the  Union 
for  years  —  yes,  we  did.  W*e  were  the  ' Union  savers'  not 
eighteen  months  ago.  Then  there  was  not  an  epithet  in  the 
whole  vocabulary  of  political  billingsgate  so  opprobrious  in  the 
eyes  of  a  Republican  when  applied  to  the  Democratic  party  as 
'Union-shriekers,'  or  the  'Union-savers.'  I  remember  in  my 
own  city,  on  the  day  of  the  Presidential  election  in  1860  —  I 
remember  it  well,  for  I  had  that  day  travelled  several  hundred 
miles  to  vote  for  Stephen  A.  Douglass  for  the  Presidency — that 
in  a  ward  where  the  judges  of  election  were  all  Democrats, 
your  patriotic  Wide-a- Wakes,  strutting  in  unctuous  uniform, 
came  up  hour  after  hour  thrusting  their  Lincoln  tickets  'twixt 
thumb  and  finger  at  the  judges,  with  the  taunt  and  sneer,  'Save 
the  Union ;  save  the  Union  ! '  And  yet  now,  forsooth,  we  are 
'  traitors '  and '  secessionists ! '  And  old  gray-bearded  and  gray- 
headed  men  who  lived  and  voted  in  the  times  of  Jefferson  and 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  209 

Madison,  and  Monroe,  and  Jackson  —  men  who  have  fought 
and  bled  upon  the  battle-field,  and  who  fondly  indulged  the 
delusion  for  forty  years  that  they  were  patriots,  wake  up  sud 
denly  to-day  to  find  themselves  '  traitors  ! ' —  sneered  at,  reviled 
arid  insulted  by  striplings  '  whose  fathers  they  would  have  dis 
dained  to  have  set  with  the  dogs  of  their  flock/  Of  all  these 
things  an  inquisition  searching  and  terrible  will  yet  be  made, 
as  sure  and  as  sudden  too,  it  may  be,  as  the  day  of  judgment. 
We  of  the  loyal  States  — we  of  the  loyal  party  of  the  country, 
the  Democratic  party — we  the  loyal  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  the  editors  of  loyal  newspapers  —  we  who  gather 
together  in  loyal  assemblages,  like  this,  and  are  addressed  by 
truly  loyal  and  Union  men  as  I  know  you  are  to-day  and  at 
this  moment  ['That's  so ;  that's  the  truth  !']  — we,  forsooth,  are 
to  be  now  denied  our  privileges  and  rights  as  Americans  and  as 
freemen ;  we  are  to  be  threatened  with  bayonets  at  the  ballot-box, 
and  bayonets  to  disperse  Democratic  meetings  !  Again  I  ask, 
why  do  they  not  take  up  their  muskets  and  march  to  the  South, 
and  like  brave  men,  meet  the  embattled  hosts  of  the  Confederates 
in  open  arms,  instead  of  threatening,  craven-like,  to  fight 
unarmed  Democrats  at  home  —  possibly  unarmed,  and  possibly 
not  ?  [Laughter  and  applause,  and  a  remark  —  'That  was  well 
put  in/]  If  so  belligerent,  so  eager  to  shed  that  last  drop  of 
blood,  let  them  volunteer  to  reinforce  the  broken  and  shattered 
columns  of  McClellan  in  front  of  Richmond,  sacrificed  as  he 
has  been  by  the  devilish  machinations  of  Abolitionism,  and 
there  mingle  their  blood  with  the  blood  of  the  thousands  who 
have  already  perished  on  those  fatal  battle-fields.  But  no,  the 
whistle  of  the  bullet  and  the  song  of  the  shell  are  not  the  sort 
of  music  to  fall  pleasantly  upon  the  ears  of  this  Home  Guard 
Republican  soldiery 

"  With  reason,  therefore,  feliow-citizens,  j.  congratulate  you 
to-day  upon  the  victory  which  you  have  achieved.  A  great 
poet  has  said  — ; 

'Peace  hath  her  victories  as  well  as  War.7 

To-day  the  cause  of  free  government  has  triumphed ;  a  victory 
of  the  Constitution,  a  victory  of  the  Union,  has  been  wron,  but 
is  yet  to  be  made  complete  by  the  men  who  go  forth  from  this 
the  first  political  battle-field  of  the  campaign,  bearing  upon 
their  banners  that  noble  legend,  that  grand  inscription  —  THE. 

14 


210  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

CONSTITUTION  AS  IT  is,  AND  THE  UNION  AS  IT  WAS.  [Great 
cheering.]  In  that  sign  shall  you  conquer.  Let  it  be  in 
scribed  upon  every  ballot,  emblazoned  upon  every  banner, 
flung  abroad  to  every  breeze,  whispered  in  the  zephyr  and 
thundered  in  the  tempest,  till  its  echoes  shall  rouse  the  fainting 
spirit  of  every  patriot  and  freeman  in  the  land.  It  is  the 
creed  of  the  truly  loyal  Democracy  of  the  United  States.  In 
behalf  of  this  great  cause  it  is  that  we  are  now,  if  need  be,  to 
do  and  to  suffer  in  political  warfare  whatever  may  be  de 
manded  of  freemen  who  know  their  rights,  and  knowing,  dare 
maintain  them.  Is  there  any  one  man  in  all  this  vast  assem 
blage  afraid  to  meet  all  the  responsibilities  which  an  earnest 
and  inexorable  discharge  of  duty  may  require  at  his  hands  in 
the  canvass  before  us  ?  ['  No,  no,  not  one  ! ?]  If  but  one,  let 
him  go  home  and  hide  his  head  for  very  shame. 

'  Who  would  be  a  traitor  knave, 
1  "Who  could  fill  a  cowarcVs  grave, 

Who  so  base  as  be  a  slave, 
Let  him  tujra.  and  flee.' 

"  It  is  no  contest  of  arms  to  which  you  are  invited.  Your 
fathers,  your  brothers,  your  sons  are  already  by  thousands  and 
hundreds"  of  thousands  on  the  battle-field.  To-day  their 
bones  lie  bleaching  upon  the  soil  of  every  Southern  State  from 
South  Carolina  to  Missouri.  It  is  to  another  conflict,  men  of 
Ohio,  that  you  are  summoned;  but  a  conflict,  nevertheless, 
which  will  demand  of  you  some  portion  at  least  of  that  same 
determined  courage,  that  same  unconquerable  will,  that  same 
inexorable  spirit  of  endurance  which  make  the  hero  upon  the 
military  battle-field.  I  have  mistaken  the  temper  of  the  men 
who  are  here  to-day,  I  have  misread  the  firm  purpose  that 
speaks  from  every  eye  and  beams  from  every  countenance, 
which  stiffens  every  sinew  and  throbs  in  every  breast — I  have 
misread  it  all  if  you  are  not  resolved  to  go  home  and  there 
maintain  at  all  hazards  and  by  every  sacrifice,  the  principles, 
the  policy  and  the  organization  of  that  party  to  which  again  and 
yet  again  I  declare  unto  you,  this  Government  and  country  are 
indebted  for  all  that  have  made  them  grand,  glorious  and  great. 
[Cheers  and  great  applause.]  " 

This  speech  was  received  with  unbounded  applause.  In 
fact,  his  entire  reception  at  Columbus  was  one  of  the  proudest 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  211 

and  most  gratifying.  He  arrived  in  that  city  on  the  evening 
of  the  3d,  and  after  midnight  responded  to  a  serenade;  the  next 
day  addressed  the  Convention,  and  again  at  night  spoke  from 
the  hotel  to  an  immense  assemblage — three  speeches  within 
twenty  hours. 

These  evidences  of  admiration  of  his  character  and  approval 
of  his  course  were  very  cheering  to  Mr.  Vallandigham,  He 
had  been  persecuted  as  no  man  in  this  country  had  ever  been 
persecuted.  He  felt  it  keenly ;  but  satisfied  that  he  was  right, 
he  would  not  alter  his  course.  And  now  there  seemed  to  be  a 
change  in  his  favor.  The  assaults  that  had  been  made  upon 
him  in  Congress  in  the  winter  and  spring  he  had  triumphantly 
repelled  —  repelled  in  such  a  way  as  to  elicit  the  highest 
admiration  of  his  friends,  and  to  command  the  respect  even 
of  his  foes.  Evidences  of  the  proper  appreciation  of  his  char 
acter  and  course  were  multiplying  around  him.  To  these  he 
refers  in  a  letter  to  liis  mother,  dated  — 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  June  14,  1862. 

"...  I  wish  I  could  get  away  from  here.  I  am  weary, 
very  weary  of  it.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  how  soon  we  will 
adjourn,  but  I  am  going  home  the  last  of  this  month.  If  we 
are  to  adjourn  soon  after,  I  shall  not  return  to  Washington 
till  November.  ...  If  I  do  not  return  to  Washington,  we 
will  come  up  to  Lisbon  some  time  in  July.  I  shall  be  rejoiced  to 
be  there  again,  and  to  see  you,  dear  mother,  again,  and  all  of  yon. 
I  am  sure  the  visit  as  to  outside  matters  will  be  more  pleasant 
than  last  summer ;  and  at  home  all  will  be  sweet,  and  the  old 
hills,  and  the  woods,  and  the  rocks,  and  the  accustomed  walks 
of  my  boyhood,  all,  all  will  be  very,  very  dear  to  me  after  all 
I  have  done  and  suffered.  But  my  reward  is  coming  —  coming 
sooner  than  I  expected.  Friends  are  springing  up  or  speaking 
out  everywhere.  God  has  been  very  good  to  me  in  the  midst 
of  sore  persecution,  and  has  delivered  me  out  of  the  hands  of 


212  LIFE    OF   CLEMEIS7T    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

my  enemies,  and  given  me  the  victory  over  them  in  every 
assault.  But  it  was  so  written  down  in  the  '  Promises ?  many 
ages  ago.  Whoever  will  do  right,  firmly  and  wisely,  will  be 
sustained  if  he  endure  to  the  end.  I  could  not  in  many  pages 
give  you  fully  the  continual  evidences  of  good  feeling  and 
praise  which  I  now  receive  from  every  quarter,  although 
abused  daily  still  too.  Only  night  before  last  an  Ohio  military 
band  (from  Mansfield)  marched  in  from  camp  seven  miles  dis 
tant  to  serenade  me. 

"I  am  greatly  rejoiced  to  hear  of  your  still  improving  good 
health.  May  you  live  long  enough  yet  to  see  peace  and  the 
beginning  of  prosperity  restored  once  more  to  this  unhappy 
country.  I  am  still  hopeful  of  the  future,  even  amidst  the 
darkness  which  surrounds  us,  and  the  evil  and  wickedness 
which  I  see  on  every  side." 

But  Mr.  Vallandigham  had  not  long  to  congratulate  himself 
on  the  favorable  change.  About  the  last  of  July  the  storm  of 
persecution  burst  out  again.  McClellan  had  just  been  defeated 
and  hurled  back  upon  the  James  river,  though  after  a  gallant 
and  stubborn  resistance  and  a  most  masterly  retreat.  Pope's 
short  but  disastrous  campaign  began.  More  troops  were 
demanded,  and  the  reign  of  terror  was  renewed  with  greater 
violence  than  ever  before.  Two  clergymen  from  the  "  Union  " 
Slave  States,  who  had  been  upon  a  visit  to  Mr.  Vallandigham, 
were  arrested  on  their  way  home.  It  had  been  the  intention 
to  arrest  them  at  his  house,  and  to  seize  him  with  them. 
Arrangements  were  made  afterwards  to  arrest  him  separately, 
and  officers  came  up  for  that  purpose  from  Cincinnati.  Mr. 
Vallandigham's  friends  rallied  to  his  support,  and  his  house 
and  all  approaches  to  it  were  securely  guarded.  Regular 
reports  of  the  arrival  of  all  trains  were  brought  to  him,  and 
ward  and  watch  kept  continually  till  break  of  day.  Not  a 
footfall  upon  the  pavement  escaped  his  ear.  Such  was  his  vigi- 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  213 

I 

lance  and  that  of  his  friends  that  at  length  the  intention  to 

arrest  him  was  for  the  present  abandoned. 

And  now  Mr.  "Vallandigham  determined  to  address  the 
people  of  Dayton,  to  whom  he  had  not  spoken  since  the  war 
began.  It  was  a  bold  movement,  exhibiting  the  highest 
moral  as  well  as  physical  courage,  since  repeated  threats  had 
been  made  during  the  preceding  eighteen  months  that  he 
would  not  be  allowed  to  speak;  and,  independent  of  this,  the 
deed  of  assassination  might  easily  be  done  under  cover  of  dark 
ness.  The  meeting  was  appointed  for  the  evening  of  the  2d  of 
August,  and  uncertain  as  to  the  number  who  would  attend,  it 
was  announced  for  a  public  hall  in  the  city ;  but  as  evening 
approached,  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  numbering 
some  eight  thousand,  assembled.  The  hall  was  speedily  filled 
to  overflowing,  but  not  an  eighth  part  of  the  audience  could 
gain  entrance.  The  meeting  was  accordingly  adjourned  to 
the  south  side  of  the  beautiful  stone  court-house  of  the  city. 
The  following  account  of  the  reception  of  Mr.  Vallandigham 
we  take  from  the  Empire: — 

"  The  calls  for  Mr.  Vallandigham  brought  that  gentleman 
to  the  stand.  The  instant  his  form  was  seen,  the  cheering 
became  absolutely  deafening.  Almost  wild  with  delight  to 
see  their  brave  champion  still  unscathed  among  them,  after 
the  threats  of  arrest  and  the  countless  tales  of  his  flight  from 
the  myrmidons,  not  of  the  law,  but  of  the  despot's  will,  cheer 
after  cheer  went  forth,  hats  were  waved,  and  vain  was  the 
effort  of  the  presiding  officer  to  check  its  progress.  At  times  it 
seemed  almost  subdued,  but  again  and  again  they  broke  forth 
with  increased  energy,  and  it  seemed  almost  as  if  nature  must 
completely  exhaust  itself  ere  the  wild  delight  with  which  the 
constituents  greeted  their  representative  could  be  stifled  suf 
ficiently  to  enable  him  to  acknowledge  their  greeting  save  by 
gesture.  It  was  a  free  heart-offering  to  bravery  and  to  truth, 


214  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 


I 


a  spontaneous  ovation  tendered  from  the  constituents  to  the 
representative,  worthy  alike  of  both." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  addressed  the  vast  and  excited  multitude 
for  nearly  three  hours,  in  a  speech  which  was  received  with 
exalted  enthusiasm,  and  which,  when  published,  called  forth 
the  highest  encomiums.  "  Elevated  in  tone,  statesman-like  in 
conception,  full  of  pathos,  and  pure  in  diction,"  said  the  editor 
of  the  Crisis,  "  it  thrills  the  reader  as  though  fresh  from  a 
Roman  Senate  in  the  hour  of  Rome's  most  terrible  trials  for 
freedom  and  existence."  At  the  close  the  people  accompanied 
him  in  triumph  to  his  home.  The  victory  was  won,  and  he 
was  secure. 

"We  would  like  to  make  copious  extracts  from  this  able 
speech,  but  have  room  for  only  a  few  sentences. 

"  I  too,"  said  he,  "have  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution; 
and  more  than  that,  I  have  done  it.  I  demand  that  all  men, 
from  the  humblest  citizen  up  to  the  President,  shall  be  made 
to  obey  it  likewise.  In  no  other  way  can  we  have  liberty, 
order,  security.  I  was  born  a  freeman.  I  shall  die  a  freeman. 
It  is  appointed  to  all  men  once  to  die ;  and  death  never  comes 
too  soon  to  one  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  I  have  chosen 
my  course,  have  pursued  it,  have  adhered  to  it  to  this  hour, 
and  will  to  the  end,  regardless  of  consequences.  My  opinions 
are  immovable ;  fire  cannot  melt  them  out  of  me.  I  scorn 
the  mob.  I  defy  arbitrary  power.  I  may  be  imprisoned  for 
opinion's  sake :  never  for  crime,  never  because  false  to  the 
country  of  my  birth,  or  disloyal  to  the  Constitution  which  I 
worship.  Other  patriots,  in  other  ages,  have  suffered  before 
me.  I  may  die  for  the  cause;  be  it  so;  but  'the  immortal 
fire  shall  outlast  the  humble  organ  which  conveys  it,  and  the 
breath  of  liberty,  like  the  word  of  the  holy  man,  will  not  die 
with  the  prophet,  but  survive  him.'  And,  meantime,  men  of 
Dayton,  the  opinions  which  I  entertain,  the  deep  convictions 
that  control  me  in  that  course  which,  before  Almighty  God,  I 
believe  can  alone  maintain  the  Constitution  and  restore  the 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  215 

Union  as  our  fathers  made  it,  I  never,  never  will  yield  up. 
Neither  height  nor  depth,  neither  death  nor  life,  nor  princi 
palities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come  — 
no,  nor  the  knife  of  the  assassin,  shall  move  me  from  my  firm 
purpose." 

On  the  4th  of  September,  1862,  the  Congressional  Conven 
tion  of  the  Third  District,  now  composed  of  the  counties  of 
Butler,  Montgomery,  Preble,  and  Warren,  met  at  Hamilton, 
and  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  nominated  by  acclamation.  In 
formed  of  his  nomination,  and  conducted  to  the  stand,  he  signi 
fied  his  acceptance  in  an  address  of  which  the  following  is  a 
portion : — 

"  At  your  demand,  therefore,  men  of  the  Third  District,  I 
accept  the  nomination,  and  present  myself  to  the  people  for 
their  suffrages,  upon  no  other  platform  than  THE  CONSTITUTION 
AS  IT  is  AND  THE  UNION  AS  IT  WAS.  It  is  a  platform  broad 
enough  for  every  patriot.  Whoever  is  for  it,  I  ask  his  support. 
Whoever  is  against  it,  I  would  not  have  his  vote.  Every 
faculty  of  body  and  mind  which  I  possess  shall  be  exerted 
unremittingly  for  the  great  purpose  implied  in  this  platform." 

.Referring  to  threats  made  that  in  certain  localities  in  the 
District  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  speak,  he  said :  —  "  Let  it 
be  understood  once  for  all,  that  wherever  in  any  part  of  any 
county  in  the  district  it  is  deemed  convenient  and  proper  to 
announce  a  Democratic  meeting,  it  will  be  held;  and  God  willing., 
I  will  address  it."  He  made  his  declaration  good,  canvassing 
every  county,  and  addressing  large  and  enthusiastic  meetings 
of  the  people.  But  since  the  election  in  1860  a  hostile  Legis 
lature  had  changed  the  District,  adding  thereto  a  county  giving 
always  an  overwhelming  Republican  majority.  The  sole 
struggle,  therefore,  was  to  carry  his  original  district,  and  in 
this  he  succeeded  by  a  largely  increased  majority 


216  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

The  Cincinnati  Times,  a  Republican  paper,  referring  to  the 
result  in  the  Third  District,  the  day  after  the  election,  said : — 

" '  Vallandigham,  though  his  district,  in  the  new  apportion 
ment,  was  arranged  especially  to  defeat  him,  is  barely  defeated, 
and  that  is  all.  In  his  old  district,  where  a  year  ago  he  scarcely 
dared  attempt  to  address  a  popular  assemblage,  he  has  a  majority 
of  about  700,  and  is  defeated  only  from  the  fact  that  a  very 
strong  Republican  county  has  been  added  to  the  district.  These 
facts  are  given  as  an  illustration  of  the  political  revolution  that 
has  undoubtedly  begun  in  the  Northwestern  States." 

The  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  the  next  day,  quoting  the  above, 
said: — 

"The  Times  is  correct  in  its  facts.  The  Hon.  C.  L.  Val 
landigham  has  obtained  the  greatest  personal  and  political  tri 
umph  ever  won  by  any  public  man  in  the  United  States.  In 
the  face  of  a  storm  of  abuse,  obloquy,  slander  and  denunciation 
from  every  Abolition  print  and  every  Abolition  orator  from 
Maine  to  California,  which  in  fury  was  probably  never  equalled, 
Mr. Vallandigham  has  been  endorsed  by  the  constituents  whom 
lie  represents  in  Congress,  by  a  majority  of  800  votes,  an 
increase  of  700  since  his  last  election  in  1860.  Denounced  as 
a  traitor,  as  a  secessionist,  as  an  enemy  of  his  country  by  the 
fawning  parasites  of  power,  by  vindictive  political  partisans 
who  have  sought  to  make  his  name  synonymous  with  treason, 
his  life  and  liberty  threatened  by  those  who  were  ignorant  of 
his  political  record,  he  has  appealed  to  the  people  of  his  district, 
and  he  has  been  triumphantly  sustained." 

But  though  nobly  sustained  by  his  old  district,  the  change 
that  had  been  made  by  the  addition  of  Warren  county  secured 
his  defeat ;  and  this  was  deeply  regretted  all  over  the  country. 
The  following  from  the  Mount  Vernon  (Ohio)  Banner  expresses 
the  tone  and  feeling  of  the  Democratic  press  throughout  the 
Union : — 

"  The  defeat  of  the  gallant  Clement  L.  Vallandigham  in 
the  third  district  is  greatly  lamented  by  all  good  Union-loving 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  217 

Democrats.  The  Republicans  purposely  formed  a  district  to 
defeat  him,  and  they  have  been  successful  by  a  small  majority. 
But  they  cannot  put  Mr.  Yallandigham  down.  Although 
slandered  more  than  any  living  man,  he  has  come  out  of  the 
'  fiery  ordeal '  like  pure  gold.  Higher  honors  yet  await  him." 

The  fall  elections  in  all  the  States  resulted  in  Democratic 
triumphs.  The  reign  of  terror  was  broken  down  and  free 
speech  once  more  secured.  Mr.  Yallandigham  addressed  many 
immense  meetings  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  continuing  his  labors 
up  to  the  day  of  his  departure  for  Washington.  He  was 
everywhere  received  with  extraordinary  honors  and  enthusiasm. 
Interesting  accounts  of  these  meetings  published  in  the  papers 
at  the  time  we  have  in  our  possession,  and  would  like  to  pre 
sent  them,  but  space  will  not  permit.  One  only  we  will  give 
— a  brief  notice  of  the  meeting  in  Mr.  Yallandigham's  native 
place,  New  Lisbon.  The  Patriot,  describing  the  meeting, 


"  Word  had  circulated  that  Vallandigham,  the  friend  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union,  was  to  speak,  and  the  old  men  of 
the  county  who  used  to  listen  to  his  father's  preaching,  and  the 
young  men  who  admired  his  valor  and  his  patriotism,  came  in 
by  hundreds  to  get  the  political  gospel  from  the  son.  Never 
in  New  Lisbon  did  there  assemble  so  many  of  the  sober  and 
pious  people  of  the  county.  Mr.  Yallandigham  was  born  and 
raised  in  New  Lisbon,  and  was  well  known  to  the  people  of 
this  county  previous  to  his  removal  to  Dayton.  When  a 
young  man,  fully  confiding  in  his  ability  and  integrity,  they 
elected  him  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State ;  and  their  confi 
dence  in  his  patriotism  and  statesmanship  has  been  increased 
by  every  act  of  his  life.  He  has  been  the  subject  of  much 
abuse  from  the  Republicans,  but  they  cannot  show  one  word 
he  has  ever  uttered  that  was  disloyal ;  while  it  would  be  very 
easy  to  establish  that,  if  every  man  in  the  North  had  pursued 
the  same  course  for  the  last  ten  years,  we  would  have  had  no 
war,  no  Federal  tax,  no  draft,  no  stricken  people  mourning  for 


218  LIFE 'OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM, 

their  dead  kindred,  victims  of  battle.     Mr.  Vallandigham  is 
immensely  popular." 

At  one  of  the  meetings  in  Indiana,  arrangements  were  made 
by  the  Governor  and  United  States  Marshal  to  arrest  him  on 
his  way  home  at  night.  His  friends  urged  that  under  cover 
of  darkness  he  should  be  taken  in  a  carriage  past  the  point 
where  the  arrest  was  to  be  made;  but  he  answered,  "  I  came 
by  the  cars,  and  in  that  way  I  mean  to  return,  arrested  or  not, 
— so  help  me  God."  He  took  the  train,  and  although  the 
Marshal  and  a  company  of  soldiers  were  at  the  depot,  no 
arrest  was  attempted.  He  subsequently  addressed  a  meeting 
near  the  same  place  and  upon  the  same  road,  but  was  not  even 
threatened. 

On  the  21st  of  November,  at  a  handsome  entertainment 
given  by  Judge  Morse  at  his  residence  near  Dayton,  an  elegant 
gold-headed  cane  with  a  suitable  inscription  was  presented  to 
Mr.  Vallandigham  by  the  ladies.  Thomas  O.  Lowe,  Esq., 
—  now  Judge  Lowe  —  of  Dayton,  on  behalf  of  the  ladies  made 
the  presentation  speech,  as  follows : — 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham: — The  ladies  of  Dayton  whom  you  see 
here  this  evening,  have  made  it  my  pleasant  duty  to  present  to 
you  in  their  names  this  cane.  You  are  to  receive  it,  Sir,  as  a 
testimonial  of  their  personal  respect  and  esteem,  and  as  an  evi 
dence  of  their  admiration  of  the  unflinching  fortitude  with 
which  you  have  always  maintained  the  principles  you  have 
believed  to  be  right.  And  it  is  also  an  assurance  that  while 
many  of  the  daughters  of  America  have  been  changed  by  this 
woful  war  into  violent  and  bloodthirsty  beings,  in  whom  we 
now  strive  in  vain  to  discover  any  of  those  merciful  and  com 
passionate  traits  which  we  have  admired  in  them  heretofore, 
and  without  which  the  character  of  every  woman  is  sadly  defi 
cient,  there  are  yet  some  of  them  among  us  who  love  not  vio 
lence,  who  shrink  from  thoughts  of  bloodshed,  who  are  ap- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  219 

palled  as  they  witness  with  us  all  the  unfolding  of  that  fearful 
panorama  which  shows  us  brothers  engaged  in  deadly  strife, 
which  is  lighted  by  the  lurid  flames  of  hell,  and  which  has  for 
its  orchestral  accompaniment  the  wails  of  widows  and  orphans. 
There  are  yet  some  who  from  their  very  natures  have  depre 
cated  this  war,  who  desired  as  you  did  that  it  should  be 
averted,  and  who  now  pray  that  the  Ruler  of  Heaven  and 
Earth,  who  is  the  Prince  of  Peace  and  God  of  Love,  will  turn 
the  hearts  of  men  from  all  bitterness  and  strife,  so  that  blood 
shed  may  be  known  among  us  no  more  forever.  And  if  there 
be  a  prayer  which  the  e  ministering  angels '  round  about  us 
more  gladly  hear  and  more  quickly  bear  to  the  ear  of  Heaven 
than  any  other,  it  must  be  theirs.  The  Saviour  of  men  said, 
'  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers/  and 

'  Gave  His  life 

To  bend  man's  stubborn  will; 
When  elements  were  fierce  with  strife, 
Said  to  them,  "  Peace,  be  still."  * 

"  Although  these  ladies  are  not  of  those  who  arrogate  to 
themselves  the  right  to  speak  with  authority  upon  those  ordi 
nary  political  topics  whose  consideration  more  rightfully,  if  not 
exclusively  belongs  to  the  sterner  sex,  they  yet  desire  to-night 
to  express  to  you  their  belief  that  if  all  the  men  of  the  North 
and  South  had  but  loved  this  Union  as  well  and  had  struggled 
as  wisely  for  the  best  interests  of  the  country  as  you,  this  war 
would  have  beeh  averted,  and  that  even  now,  if  the  com 
batants  could  but  be  imbued  with  a  patriotism  as  true  as  yours, 
this  struggle  would  speedily  cease,  our  Union  be  restored  as  it 
was,  and  everything  which  has  in  days  gone  by  made  Ameri 
cans  proud  of  their  country,  would  come  back  to  us  again. 

"  .  .  .  And  we  all  think,  Sir,  that  it  is  not  among  the  least 
of  the  services  you  have  rendered  to  your  country  that  you 
have  shown  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  unconquerable  devo 
tion  to  principle ;  that  there  is  one  statesman  among  us  who 
is  not  to  be  moved  from  his  convictions  of  right  by  any  danger 
or  threatenings ;  that  if  one  obeys  the  exhortations  of  "Wolsey, 
and  makes  his  aims  '  his  country's,  his  God's,  and  truth's/  he 
need  not  fear.  Though  storms  may  be  raging  all  around  him, 
he  will  be  ( sustained  by  an  unfaltering  trust/  and  have  'that 
peace  which  is  above  all  earthly  dignities,  a  still  and  quiet  con- 


220  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  replied  as  follows : — 

"  Mr.  Lowe : — "With  a  grateful  heart  I  receive  this  cane  from 
the  ladies  for  whom  you  have  just  spoken.  Valuable  in  itself, 
it  is  to  me  far  more  valuable  because  of  the  kindly  motives 
which  have  induced  its  presentation,  but  especially  as  a  testi 
mony  of  their  approbation  of  my  conduct  as  a  public  man  in 
the  recent  and  present  perilous  times  of  the  country.  From 
them  I  accept  it  as  a  large  recompense  for  whatever  of  calumny 
and  reproach  I  have  endured  for  the  last  eighteen  months, 
because  of  my  adherence  to  principle  and  a  course  of  public 
policy  which  in  my  conscience  and  judgment  I  believed  essen 
tial  to  the  restoration  of  the  Union  and  the  best  interests  of 
my  country.  Such  honors  are  bestowed  commonly  upon  the 
heroes  of  military  warfare;  but  if  I  merit  any  part  of  the 
praise  which  you  have  so  eloquently  expressed,  it  is  moral 
heroism  which  to-night  is  honored  by  these  ceremonies.  It  is 
the  victories  of  peace  which  you  here  celebrate.  Her  triumphs 
are  indeed  grander,  and  her  conquests  nobler  than  any  achieved 
by  the  military  hero  upon  the  battle-field.  And  it  is  especially 
fitting  that  these  honors  should  be  paid  to  the  cause  —  though 
I  myself  may  deserve  them  not — by  the  women  of  the  country; 
and  while  I  lament  that  so  many  among  them  should  have  for 
gotten  the  softness  of  their  sex  and' the  mild  teachings  of  a 
religion  essential  indeed  to  man,  but  especially  congenial  to 
woman's  nature,  yet  I  rejoice  that  so  many  also  have  laid  not 
aside  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  but  remembered 
and  clung  yet  the  more  steadfastly  to  the  gospel  of  peace  and 
love  even  amid  the  phrensy  of  a  desolating  and  demoralising 
civil  war.  True  to  woman's  mission,  they  are  or  will  be  the 
wives,  mothers,  daughters  and  sisters  who  by  precept,  example, 
or  association  shall  bring  back  yet  the  present,  or  educate  a  new 
generation  which  shall  restore  peace,  the  Union  and  Constitu 
tional  liberty  with  all  their  virtues  and  their  blessings  once 
more  to  this  bleeding  and  distracted  country.  If,  indeed,  Sir, 
I  have  exhibited  any  part  of  the  high  qualities  of  courage,  for 
titude  and  immovable  devotion  to  the  good  and  the  right 
which  on  behalf  of  these  ladies  you  have  so  kindly  attributed 
to  me,  it  is  to  one  of  their  own  sex,  more  than  to  any  other 
human  agency,  that  I  am  indebted  for  them  —  my  mother.  In 
childhood,  in  boyhood  and  in  youth,  in  the  midst  of  many 
trials,  from,  her  teachings  and  by  her  example,  I  learned  those 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  221 

lessons  and  formed  the  character  and  habits  —  if  it  be  so  — 
which  fitted  me  with  courage  and  endurance  and  unfaltering 
faith  to  struggle  with  the  terrible  times  in  the  midst  of  which 
we  live. 

"  Congratulating  the  ladies  on  the  selection  of  yourself  as 
their  representative  upon  this  occasion,  and  thanking  you  cor 
dially  for  the  many  kind  things  you  have  been  pleased  to  say, 
I  accept  this  beautiful  present  with  my  most  grateful  acknow 
ledgments  to  one  and  all  here  assembled." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremonies  the  ladies  and  gentle 
men  present  partook  of  an  elegant  supper,  worthy  of  the  host 
and  accomplished  hostess,  and  of  the  good  old  "  Butternut " 
hospitality  of  former  days. 

The  Thirty-Seventh  Congress  met  in  third  session  the  first 
of  December.  From  May  down  to  that  period  scarcely  any 
thing  but  disaster  had  befallen  the  Federal  arms.  The 
elections  had  nearly  all  terminated  adversely  to  the  Admin 
istration.  All  was  alarm,  almost  terror.  Arbitrary  arrests 
were  suspended ;  Forts  Warren  and  La  Fayette  and  other  bas- 
tiles  gave  up  their  prisoners;  and  Mr.  Seward  graciously 
announced  in  an  official  despatch  the  return  of  the  country  to 
its  "  normal  condition,"  when  all  citizens  might  freely 
oppose  and  criticise  the  measures  and  conduct  of  the  men  in 
power.  But  one  more  effort  was  yet  to  be  essayed  against  Rich 
mond.  The  fortunes  of  battle  were  committed  to  the  "  weak 
but  presumptuous  Burnside,"  who,  on  the  13th  of  December, 
for  five  hours,  with  frantic  recklessness,  drove  on  his  columns 
against  the  Confederate  intrenchments,  and  at  nightfall,  after 
the  loss  of  fourteen  thousand  of  his  best  troops,  had  earned  the 
well-deserved  cognomen  of  "  the  Butcher  of  Fredericksburg." 
The  day  before  the  battle  Mr.  Yallandigham  had  arrived  in 
New  York.  Affairs  were  now  changed;  and  accepting  a 


222  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

proffered  serenade  at  the  New  York  Hotel,  he  addressed  a  very 
large  assembly,  and  there,  amid  great  applause,  first  uttered 
the  word  "  PEACE  "  in  public  meeting  in  that  city. 

Returning  to  Washington,  he  found  the  Administration  and 
their  friends  in  Congress  casting  about  for  some  mode  of 
escape  from  the  struggle,  with  safety  to  themselves.  Nego 
tiation,  armistice,  mediation,  peace  were  no  longer  treasonable 
words.  About  this  time  he  offered  the  following  series  of 
resolutions,  as  amendatory  to  certain  ones  offered  the  day  before 
by  Thaddeus  Stevens  : — 

"Resolved,  That  the  Union  as  it  was  must  be  restored  and 
maintained,  one  and  indivisibleforever,  under  the  Constitution 
as  it  is,  the  fifth  arti  cle,providing  for  amendments,  included. 

"Resolved,  That  if  any  person  in  the  civil  or  military 
service  of  the  United  States  shall  propose  terms  of  peace,  or 
accept  or  advise  the  acceptance  of  any  such  terms,  on  any  other 
basis  than  the  integrity  of  the  Federal  Union,  and  of  the  sev 
eral  States  comprising  the  same,  and  the  Territories  of  the 
Union,  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  civil  war,  he  will  be 
guilty  of  a  high  crime. 

"Resolved,  That  this  Government  can  never  permit  the  in 
tervention  of  any  foreign  nation  in  regard  to  this  present  civil 
war. 

"Resolved,  That  the  unhappy  civil  war  in  which  we  are 
engaged  was  waged  in  the  beginning  professedly  not  in  any 
spirit  of  oppression,  or  for  any  purpose  of  conquest  or  subjuga 
tion,  or  for  the  purpose  of  overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the 
rights  or  the  established  institutions  of  the  States ;  but  to  de 
fend  and  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  and  to 
preserve  the  Union  with  all  the  dignity,  equality,  and  rights 
of  the  several  States  unimpaired,  and  was  so  understood  and 
accepted  by  the  people,  and  especially  by  the  army  and  navy 
of  the  United  States ;  and  that,  therefore,  whoever  shall  per 
vert,  or  attempt  to  pervert,  the  same  to  a  war  of  conquest  and 
subjugation,  or  for  the  overthrow  or  interfering  with  the  rights 
or  established  institutions  of  any  of  the  States  to  abolish  slavery 
therein,  or  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  or  impairing  the  dig- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGKEAM.  223 

nity,  equality  or  rights  of  any  of  the  States,  will  be  guilty  of  a 
flagrant  breach  of  public  faith,  and  a  high  crime  against  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union. 

"Resolved,  That  whoever  shall  propose  by  Federal  authority 
to  extinguish  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  or  to  declare  any 
of  them  extinguished,  and  to  establish  territorial  Governments 
within  the  same,  will  be  guilty  of  a  high  crime  against  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union. 

"Resolved,  That  whoever  shall  affirm  that  it  is  competent 
for  this  House,  or  any  other  authority,  to  establish  a  dictator 
ship  in  the  Wnited  States,  thereby  superseding  or  suspending 
the  Constitutional  authorities  of  the  Union,  and  shall  proceed 
to  make  any  movement  toward  the  declaring  of  a  dictatorship, 
shall  be  guilty  of  a  high  crime  against  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union  and  public  liberty." 

These  resolutions  were  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  yeas 
79,  all  Republicans,  to  nays  50,  all  Democrats  and  Constitu 
tional  Union  men.  They  sufficiently  indicate  the  fears  that 
wTere  entertained  by  Mr.  Vallandigham  and  others  in  reference 
to  the  terms  of  settlement  that  would  be  proposed,  or  the  meas 
ures  that  would  be  adopted  by  the  Administration,  provided 
disaster  should  still  continue  to  follow  the  Federal  arms. 

The  Christmas  recess  soon  after  occurred,  and  members  sep 
arated.  Re-assembling  in  January,  1863,  the  drawn  battle  at 
Murfreesboro7,  and  the  costly  but  total  failure  before  Vicks- 
burg,  had  been  added  to  the  long  list  of  disasters.  About  this 
time  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  approached  by  letter  and  personal 
interview,  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  most  eminent  and  influen 
tial  supporters  of  the  Administration,  to  ascertain  whether  some 
means  could  not  be  devised  to  bring  about  a  cessation  of  hos 
tilities  through  foreign  mediation,  leaving  the  terms  of  adjust 
ment  to  foreign  arbitration.  Whatever  the  design  of  this  pro 
position,  the  effect  and  issue  were  palpable  • —  final  peaceable 


224  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

separation.  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  ready  and  anxious  for  any 
thing  that  would  stop  the  war,  and  believing  that  mediation 
would  at  that  time  be  "the  speediest,  easiest,  most  graceful  mode" 
of  effecting  his  object,  he  agreed  to  support  it,  but  rejected 
"arbitration"  as  both  impracticable  and  dangerous,  insisting  that 
"the  people  of  the  several  States  here  at  home  must  be  the  final 
arbitrators  of  the  great  quarrel  in  America,  and  the  people  and 
the  States  of  the  Northwest  the  mediators  who  should  stanft 
like  the  prophet  betwixt  the  living  and  the  dead,  that  the 
plague  of  disunion  might  be  stayed." 

On  the  14th  of  January,  Mr.  Vallandigham  delivered  a 
speech  on  "  The  Great  Civil  War  in  America, "  a  speech  which 
produced  perhaps  as  profound  a  sensation  as  any  ever  delivered 
in  the  halls  of  Congress.  A  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati 
Gazette,  a  bitter  enemy  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  thus  describes 
the  scene : — 

"  Finally  the  flow  of  motions  ceases ;  the  Speaker  announces 
the  resolutions  of  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  under  con 
sideration  and  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  entitled  to  the  floor, 
and  Mr.  Vallandigham  rises,  leaves  his  usual  seat  011  the 
extreme  left  and  moves  over  to  near  the  centre  of  the  opposition 
benches. 

"There  is  a  little  flutter  in  the  hall.  This  matter  may 
require  attention ;  it  is  well  enough  to  lay  aside  the  unfinished 
letters  to  constituents  and  drafts  of  new  bills,  and  listen  a  little 
while.  The  wonderful  old  man  from  Pennsylvania  [Stevens], 
who  at  70  years  of  age  retains  all  the  fire  and  vigor  of  his 
earlier  manhood,  and,  with  the  aid  of  a  snuff-colored  wig,  makes 
everybody  think  him  only  fifty,  still  the  imperious  and  some 
times  w^rong-headed  leader  of  the  House,  faces  about  to  the 
opposition  side,  braces  himself  back  in  his  chair,  and  grimly 
eyes  the  member  on  the  floor.  Portly  and  good-natured  Love- 
joy  bristles  up,  hitches  his  chair  forward,  and  raises  his  hand  to 
liis  ear  to  catch  the  opening  sentences.  Gray-headed,  crabbed- 
faced,  ruffle-shirted  Wickliffe  rears  aloft  his  huge  hulk  of  once 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  225 

noble  Kentucky  proportions,  and  with  the  aid  of  crutch  and 
cane  hobbles  his  gouty  way  down  the  aisle,  and  seats  himself 
just  under  his  friend,  the  orator's  extended  hand,  the  better 
to  catch  the  droppings  from  this  sanctuary  of  Democracy,  pure 
and  undefiled,  Colfax,  Avith  an  attention  to  the  business  before  the 
House  that  is  never  at  fault,  turns  sharp  and  quick  in  his  chair 
to  listen.  The  Chairman  of  the  Military  Committee,  black- 
whiskered  Olin  of  New  'York,'  walks  down  the  aisle  to  the 
Clerk's  desk,  and  takes  a  position  to  hear  distinctly.  There  is' 
a  general  rising  and  turning  on  the  Democratic  and  Border 
State  side  to  get  more  favorable  positions.  The  ladies  on  the 
front  'seats  in  the  galleries  lean  over  to  catch  a  better  view  of 
the  ogre  from  Ohio.  The  hitherto  sleepy-looking  occupants  of 
the  reporters'  gallery  shake  oif  their  indifference,  exchange 
hurried  remarks  with  each  other,  and  -lean  over  to  notice  how  he 
opens,  for  this  speech  has  been  talked  about  and  expected  a 

long  time He  begins   boldly,  defiantly  even,  and    i»;' 

speedily  preaching  the  very  doctrine  of  devils.  You  can  never 
subdue  the  seceded  States.  Two  years  of  fearful  experience  have 
taught  you  that.  Why  carry  on  the  war?  If  you  persist  it  can 
only  end  in  final  separation  between  the  North  and  South. 
And  in  that  case,  believe  it  now,  as  you  did  not  my  former 
warnings,  the  whole  Northwest  will  go  with  the  South! 

"  He  waxes  more  earnest  as  he  approaches  this  key-note  of 
his  harangues  and  with  an  energy  and  force  that  makes  every 
hearer,  as  his  moral  nature  revolts  from  the  bribe,  acknowledge 
all  the  more  the  splendid  force  with  which  the  tempter  urges 
Ins  cause,  with  flashing  eye  and  livid  features  and  extended 
hand,  he  hurls  the  climax  of  his  threatening  argument  again 
upon  the  Republican  side  of  the  House :  'Believe  me,  as  you 
did  not  the  solemn  warning  of  years  past,  the  day  which  divida- 
the  North  from  the  South  y  the  self-same  day  decrees  eternal 
divorce  between  the  West  and  the  East!'  .... 

"  The  group  of  Republicans  standing  in  the  open  space 
before  the  Clerk's  desk  increases ;  they  crowd  down  the  aisles 
among  the  opposition  and  cluster  around  the  speaker  as  ho 
resumes.  Even  the  eternal  chattering  in  the  ladies'  galleries 
lias  ceased,  the  seats  are  all  crowded,  the  correspondents  and 
reporters  have  been  attracted  by  the  interest  of  the  scene,  and 
for  a  wonder  the  reporters'  gallery  is  full  and  attentive. 

"  An  effort  is  making  on  the  floor  to  get  a  joint  session  of 

15 


226  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

the  Military  and  Naval  Committees,  to  hear  a  proposition  from 
Cyrus  W.  Field,  backed  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  about  a  sub 
marine  cable  to  New  Orleans.  One  member  after  another  flatly 
refuses  to  obey  the  call  of  the  Chairman  and  leave  the  debate. 
The  eminent  telegrapher  waits  an  hour  in  the  Committee-room, 
and  finally  gets  to  see  three  out  of  fourteen  members.  Such  is 
the  interest  the  discussion  of  treason's  argument  is  arousing. 

"  The  speaker  resumed :  i  There  is  not  one  drop  of  rain 
that  falls  over  the  whole  vast  expanse  of  the  Northwest  that 
does  not  find  its  home  in  the  bosom  of  the  Gulf.  We  must  and 
we  will  follow  ity  with  travel  and  trade ;  not  by  treaty,  but  by 
right;  freely,  peaceably  and  without  restriction  or  tribute,  under 
the  same  Government  and  flag ! ' 

"  It  is  eloquently  spoken,  and  none  are  more  willing  to  con- 
it  than  his  opponents 

"  He  has  spoken  over  an  hour  and  a  quarter,  and  has  accom 
plished  that  rare  feat,  compelled  the  closest  attention  of  the 
most  disorderly  deliberative  body  in  the  world,  from  the  begin 
ning  to  the  end 

"  There  is  a  gradual  relaxation,  a  sudden  humming  of  con 
versation  again  on  the  floor  and  through  the  galleries.  The 
Democrats  and  Border  State  men,  with  faces  wreathed  in 
smiles,  crowd  around  their  champion  with  their  congratula 
tions.  At  a  single  step  the  shunned  and  execrated  Yallandig- 
ham  has  risen  to  the  leadership  of  their  party.  Deny  it,  as 
some  of  them  still  may,  henceforth  it  is  accomplished.77 

This  speech  was  received  by  the  Democrats  everywhere  with 
unbounded  admiration,  and  even  the  Republicans  acknow 
ledged  its  great  ability.  The  Boston  Courier,  one  of  the  ablest 
of  the  Eastern  papers,  thus  speaks  of  it : — 

"  It  is  an  extremely  able  and  a  very  honest  speech.  No 
one  can  read  it  and  help  believing  that  Mr.  Yallandigham  is 
a  brave  and  honest  man ;  and  the  speech  itself  affords  irre 
sistible  evidence  that  it  is  his  unfaltering  devotion  to  the 
Union  and  the  Constitution  which  has  led  those  less  loyal  to 
stigmatise  him  as  a  secessionist  and  a  traitor.  His  opinions 
will  answer  for  themselves ;  but  for  its  historical  value  and  its 
strong  grasp  of  the  future,  the  speech  ought  to  have  the  widest 
circulation. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  227 

The  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  publishing  it  on  the  20th,  says : — 

"  We  could  not  publish  anything  more  valuable  or  inter 
esting  than  this  powerful  speech,  one  of  the  ablest  ever  deliv 
ered  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  even  in  its  palmiest  days  of 
glory.  It  is  a  speech  which  would  add  to  the  fame  of  a  Clay, 
or  a  Webster,  or  a  Burke,  or  a  Chatham.  In  style  it  is  worthy 
of  Macaulay's  finest  composition.  It  is  a  speech  that  ought  to 
be  read  by  every  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  especially  by 
those  wrho  have  been  politically  opposed  to  Mr.  Vallandigham. 
They  will  discover  in  it  a  force  of  reasoning,  a  richness  of 
historical  illustration,  a  depth  of  patriotism,  that  they  can  not 
but  recognise  and  admire  in  the  fullest  sense.  This  speech 
must  produce  a  great  effect  upon  public  opinion  in  favor  of  the 
stopping  of  this  war,  and  the  concluding  of  an  armistice." 

Three  days  later  the  same  paper  contained  the  following : — 

"  Xo  speech  has  been  made  in  Congress  for  years  that  has 
produced  so  great  an  effect  in  political  circles,  has  been  so  uni 
versally  admired  for  surpassing  ability,  for  genuine  and  manly 
patriotism,  for  its  wise  statesmanship,  as  that  of  Mr.  Vallan 
digham  It  is  a  valuable  and  undying  contribution  to  Ameri 
can  Congressional  eloquence,  and  will  raise  its  author  to  a  high 
place  among  the  greatest  men  of  the  country." 

Such  was  the  tone  of  the  Democratic  press  throughout  the 
country.  In  most  of  the  Democratic  papers  the  speech  was 
published  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  in  pamphlet  form  it  was 
circulated  by  tens  of  thousands. 

A  few  sentences  of  this  speech  we  present,  peculiarly  appro 
priate  to  these  times  of  sycophancy  to  power,  and  unparalleled 
dishonesty,  fraud  and  corruption  in  high  places : — 

"I  had  rather  that  my  right  arm  were  plucked  from  itp 
socket  and  cast  into  eternal  burnings,  than,  with  my  convictions, 
to  have  thus  defiled  my  soul  with  the  guilt  of  moral  perjury. 
Sir,  I  was  not  taught  in  that  school  which  proclaims  that  l  all 
is  fair  in  politics/  I  loathe,  abhor,  and  detest  the  execrable 
maxim.  I  stamp  upon  it.  No  State  can  endure  a  single 


228  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

generation  whose  public  'men  practise  it.  Whoever  teaches  it 
is  a  corruptcr  of  youth.  What  we  most  want  in  these  times, 
and  at- all  times,  is  honest  and  independent  public  men.  That. 
man  who  is  dishonest  in  politics  is  not  honest  at  heart  in  any 
thing  ;  and  sometimes  moral  cowardice  is  dishonesty.  Do 
right,  and  trust  to  God  and  truth,  and  the  people.  Perish 
office,  perish  honors,  perish  life  itself;  but  do  the  thing  that 
is  riglit,  and  do  it  like  a  man.  I  did  it.  Certainly,  Sir,  I 
could  not  doubt  what  he  must  suffer  who  dare  defy  the  opinions 
and  passions,  not  to  say  the  madness,  of  twenty  millions  of 
people.  Had  I  not  read  history  ?  Did  I  not  know  human 
nature  ?  But  I  appealed  to  TIME  •  and  right  nobly  hath  the 
avenger  answered  me." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  rejected  utterly  at  that  time,  both  in  pri 
vate  letters  and  interviews,  and  in  his  speech,  the  idea  -of  final 
separation  as  the  object  of  a  cessation  of  hostilities;  and  in  this 
he  uttered  but  the  almost  universal  sentiment  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party.  He  believed  that  the  Administration  was  then 
willing  to  make  peace  upon  the  basis  of  such  separation,  and 
only  desired  to  have  their  opponents  commit  themselves  to 
the  same  policy,  thereby  sharing  the  odium  and  relieving 
them  in  part  from  the  responsibility  of  the  act.  Failing  in 
this,  they  rallied  late  in  January,  and  resolving  upon  a  more 
"  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war "  than  ever  before,  resorted 
at  last  to  a  formal  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus,  an  indem 
nity  to  the  President  and  all  under  him,  and  the  Conscription. 
At  the  same  time  a  formidable  effort  was  made  to  revive  the 
scheme  of  a  new  "  conservative "  party  to  supersede  the  Demo 
cratic  organization  and  oppose  radicalism,  but  support  the  war. 
This  time  the  movement  was  to  comprehend  a  portion  of  the 
Abolition  or  Eepublican  party ;  and  chief  among  its  leaders 
-were  to  be  Thurlow  Weed  and  William  H.  Seward.  Mr.Val- 
.landigham  could  at  that  time  obtain  no  opportunity  to  address 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  229 

a.  public  meeting  in  New  York ;  but  being  invited  to  speak  in 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  very  near  to  the  former  city,  he  gladly 
availed  himself  of  the  occasion  to  denounce,  in  the  severest 
terms,  the  proposed  arrangement.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  effect  of  the  speech,  it  is  certain  that  the  movement  utterly 
failed. 

On  the  23d  of  February  the  Conscription  Bill  was  under 
consideration  in  the  House,  and  a  debate  ensued  which  for 
boldness,  eloquence,  and  power  has  seldom  been  equalled.  The 
bill  had  passed  the  Senate  at  midnight,  in  the  absence  of  those 
who  were  opposed  to  it,  who  had  not  an  opportunity  even  to 
record  their  votes  against  it.  It  was  intended  that  there 
Should  be  no  debate  upon  it  in  the  House,  but  the  minority 
resolved  that  they  would  be  heard,  and  by  parliamentary  tact 
and  skill  they  secured  discussion.  Crittenden,  Pendleton, 
Voorhees,  Biddle,  and  others  put  forth  their  whole  strength. 
Mr.. Yallandigham  addressed  the  House  at  night  in  a  speech 
unprepared,  and  without  a  single  note,  except  the  paging  of  the 
extracts  which  he  read,  but  which,  in  the  language  of  Mr. 
Yoorhees,  "held  the  House  spell-bound,"  many  upon  both 
sides  regarding  it  as  his  ablest  Congressional  effort,  suspassing 
in  argumentative  force  and  concise  vehemence  his  speech  of  the 
14th  of  January.  The  bill  finally  passed,  but  not  until  it  had 
been  stripped  of  some  of  its  most  objectionable  features. 

This  was  Mr.  Vallandigham's  last  speech  in  Congress,  and 
,nobly  did   it  close  his  Congressional  career.     He  concluded 
thus : — 

"  Sir,  I  have  clone  now  with  my  objections  to  this  bill.  I 
have  spoken  as  though  the  Constitution  survived,  and  was  still 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  But  if,  indeed,  there  be  no  Con- 


230  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

stitution  any  longer,  limiting  and  restraining  the  men  in  power, 
then  there  is  none  binding  upon  the  States  or  the  people.  God 
forbid !  We  have  a  Constitution  yet,  and  laws  yet.  To  them 
I  appeal.  Give  us  our  rights ;  give  us  known  and  fixed  laws ; 
give  us  the  judiciary ;  arrestfus  only  upon  due  process  of  law; 
give  us  presentment  or  indictment  by  grand  juries,  speedy  and 
public  trial,  trial  by  jury  and  at  home;  tell  us  the  nature  and 
cause  of  the  accusation,  confront  us  with  witnesses ;  allow  us 
witnesses  on  our  behalf,  and  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  our 
defence ;  secure  us  in  our  persons,  our  houses,  our  papers,  and 
our  effects ;  leave  us  arms,  not  for  resistance  to  law  or  against 
rightful  authority,  but  to  defend  ourselves  from  outrage  and  vio 
lence  ;  give  us  free  speech  and  a  free  press ;  the  right  peaceably 
to  assemble ;  and  above  all,  free  and  undisturbed  elections  and 
the  ballot :  take  our  sons,  take  our  money,  our  property,  take 
all  else,  and  we  will  wait  a  little,  till  at  the  time  and  in  the 
manner  appointed  by  Constitution  and  law,  we  shall  eject  you 
from  the  trusts  you  have  abused,  and  the  seats  of  power  you 
have  dishonored,  and  other  and  better  men  shall  reign  in  your 
stead." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE    ARREST. 

ON  the  4th  of  March,  1863,  the  37th  Congress  adjourned. 
In  compliance  with  invitations  previously  received,  Mr.  Yal- 
landigham  went  Eastward  to  spend  a  week  or  two  in  that 
section  before  returning  home.  He  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on 
the  afternoon  of  March  the  5th ;  and  from  the  Inquirer,  a  Re 
publican  paper,  we  take  the  following  account  of  his  reception, 
and  of  the  speech  he  made  that  evening : — 

"  Clement  L.  Yallandigham,  Democratic  member  of  Con 
gress  for  Ohio,  arrived  in  this  city  yesterday  afternoon  and 
engaged  rooms  at  the  Girard  House.  His  arrival  was  the 
occasion  of  a  grand  Democratic  celebration,  which  took  place 
last  evening  in  front  of  the  Girard  House. 

"Early  in  the  evening  the  members  of  the  Democratic 
Central  Club  assembled  at  the  Club  Room,  on  Walnut  street,, 
below  Sixth,  and  formed  in  procession,  headed  by  Beck's 
band,  proceeding  from  thence  to  the  hotel,  where  Mr.  Yallan 
digham  was  serenaded  by  the  band.  Previous  to  the  appear 
ance  of  Mr.  Yallandigham,  the  street  in  front  of  the  hotel 
presented  a  brilliant  and  enthusiastic  appearance. 

"  The  street  was  one  blaze  of  fire- works,  and  the  yells  and 
cheers  of  the  assembled  crowd  were  deafening.  On  the  appear 
ance  of  Mr.  Yallandigham  these  manifestations  were  increased, 
and  continued  for  some  time.  After  order  had  been  in  some 
measure  restored,  Mr.  Charles  W.  Carrigan  stepped  forward 
and  introduced  Mr.  Yallandigham  to  the  crowd  in  attendance 
as  a  white  man  and  a  fearless  champion  of  the  rights  of  the 
people,  and  a  steadfast  supporter  of  the  Democratic  party. 
Mr.  Yallandigham  spoke  as  follows : 


232  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  He  said  he  was  present  more  to  acknowledge  the  unex 
pected  and  enthusiastic  greeting  than  to  discuss  public  ques 
tions.  He  thanked  the  audience  for  the  reception  tendered 
him,  and  hoped  that  they  would  ( hear  him  for  his  cause,  and 
be  silent  that  they  might  hear/  He  proclaimed  himself  a  true 
Union  man,  as  he  always  had  been,  and  he  intended  to  be  so. 
He  had  differed  with  the  Administration  only  as  to  the  mode 
of  preserving  the  Union.  .  He  had  differed  with  them  only  in 
his  support  of  the  Constitution. 

"  The  Administration  had  yet  to  learn  that  there  were  two 
Union  parties  in  the  country,  if  they  really  were  for  the  Union 
as  it  was  and  the  Constitution  as  it  is.  The.  only  true,  uncon 
ditional  Union  party  was  the  Democratic"  party,  which  had 
maintained  and  preserved  the  Union  for  over  sixty  years;  The 
Administration  must  be  taught  that  men  have  a  right  to  differ 
as  to  the  .mode  in.  which  the  Union  is  to  be  maintained.  If,  in 
the  discussion  of  this  question,  the  Democrats  were  defeated  at 
the  ballot-box,  they. would  submit,  and  would  require  the  same 
from  their  opponents,  if  beaten. 

"The  speaker  argued  that  the  Federal  Government  was 
supreme  within  its  iimits,  as  were  also  the  State  Governments. 
Each  should  be  obeyed  to  the  extent  of  its  authority.  That 
the  spe'aker  was' a  Union  man  was  not  what  had  been  said  of 
him  by  a  lying  press,  and  he  rejoiced  that  the  time  had  come 
when  he  could  vindicate  himself  from  the  malicious  charges 
which"  had 'been  hurled  against  him.  Until  the  Democratic 
party  get  into  power,  which  would  be  the  case  in  March  1865, 
they  would  exercise  the  right  to  adopt  every  means  tending  to 
the  restoration  of  the  Union. 

"  The  great  plan  which  the  speaker  advocated  to  this  end 
was  to  call  ~a  convention  of  all  the  States,  which,  he  argued, 
would  resuK  in  a  restoration  of  the  Union  and  the  perpetuation 
of  :peace:  In  the  meantime  there  will  have  to  be  a  cessation 
of  the  charges  of  treason  made  against  the  Democratic  party. 
...  He  continued  at  some  length,  arguing  the  propriety  of 
calling  a  convention  of  the  States  for  effecting  a  solution  of  the 
difficulties  in  which  this  country  is  involved." 

The;  concourse  in  front  of  the  hotel  during  the  delivery  of 
his  speech  was  very  large,  and  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  he 
was  handsomely  entertained  by  the  "  Philadelphia  Club "  at 


LIFE    O.F   CLEMENT    L:    VALLAKDIGIJAM,  233 

their  rooms ;  and  the  cordiality  with  which  he  was  received, 
and  the  kindness  with  which  he  was  treated  during  his  sojourn 
in  the  city,  were  to  him  exceedingly  gratifying. 

The  next  day  he  went  to  New  York,  and  on  Saturday 
evening  delivered  a  long,  able,  and  eloquent  speech  before  the 
Democratic  Union  Association  at  their  headquarters  in  Broad 
way.  Though  the  evening  was  most  inclement  and  stormy, 
the  room  was  packed  to  its  utmost  capacity.  After  being  in 
troduced  by  Mr.  Luke  F.  Cozans,  President  of  the  Association, 
and  greeted  with  loud  and  protracted  cheers,  he  spoke  as 
follows : — 

"  Gentlemen :  — I  was  not  aware  till  after  my  arrival  here  a 
few  'hours  ago  of  the  stereotyped  threats  that  this  man  or 
that  man  representing  certain  sentiments  should  not  be  permit 
ted  to  speak  in  the  city  of  New  York.  If  I  had  known  it,  I 
probably  would  have  taken  an  earlier  train  and  been  here  a  few 
hours  in  advance.  ["  Good,"  and  applause.]  The  spirit  of  those 
before  me  sufficiently  proves  the  time  for  all  that  has  gone  by. 
I  am  here  to  speak  to-night  regardless  of  all  threats  ["  Good, 
good/''  and  cheers] ;  and  if  there  'were  any  disagreeable  conse 
quences  to'  follow,  regardless  of  those  consequences.  [Loud 
cheers.]  But  there  are  none;  and  1  am  here  to  speak  just  such 
things  as  in  my  judgment  a  true  patriot  and  a  free  man  ought 
to  speak.  [Enthusiastic  cheers.]  I  accepted  the  invitation 
very  cordially  to  address  this  club,  and  came  at  no  inconsider 
able  personal  sacrifice,  because  the  exigencies  of  the  times  which 
are  again  upon  us  with  threatening  aspect,  not  only  justify,  but 
in  my  judgment  demand  of  every  public  man  that  all  personal 
considerations  should  be  laid  aside  for  the  public  good.  [Ap- 
pMuse.]  I  know  as  well  as  any  man  the  pressure  that  is  now 
made"  upon  the  Democratic  party  with  the  vain  hope  of  crush 
ing  it  out.  These  men  who  are  in  power  at  Washington, 
extending  their  agencies  out  through  the  cities  and  States  of  the 
Union,  and  threatening  to  re-inaugurate  a  reign  of  terror,  may 
as  well  know  that'  we  comprehend  precisely  their  purpose.  I 
ti'eg  leave  to  assure  you  that  it  cannot  and  will  not  be  permitted 
to  succeed.  [Applause.]  The  people  of  this  country  endorsed 


234  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

it  once  because  they  were  told  that  it  .was  essential  to  the  speedy 
suppression  or  crushing  out  of  the  rebellion  and  the  restoration 
of  the  Union ;  and  they  so  loved  the  Union  of  these  States  that 
they  would  consent  even  for  a  little  while,  under  false  and  now 
broken  promises  of  the  men  in  power,  to  surrender  those  liber 
ties  in  order  that  that  great  object  might  be,  as  it  was  promised, 
accomplished  speedily.  They  have  been  deceived ;  instead  of 
crushing  out  the  rebellion,  the  effort  has  been  to  crush  out  the 
spirit  of  liberty.  [Cheers.] 

"  The  conspiracy  of  those  in  power  is  not  so  much  for  a 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  against  rebels  in  the  South  as 
against  the  democracy  in  peace  at  home.  [Cheers.]  And  now 
no  effort,  however  organised,  premeditated  or  well  concerted, 
to  restore  those  times  through  which  we  have  passed,  and 
which  will  stand  upon  the  pages  of  history  as  the  darkest  of 
all  the  annals  of  America  —  no  effort,  I  say,  will  be  permitted 
to  succeed,  and  the  sooner  they  comprehend  that  the  better,  and 
the  less  trouble  there  will  be  in  the  land.  [Applause.]  We 
were  born  to  an  inheritance  of  freedom ;  the  Constitution  came 
to  us  from  our  fathers ;  it  guaranteed  to  us  rights  and  liberties 
older  than  the  Constitution  itself — God-given,  belonging  to 
the  people,  belonging  to  men,  because  God  made  them  free  — 
and  we  do  not  mean  to  surrender  one  jot  or  tittle  of  those 
rights  and  liberties.  ["Amen,"  and  loud  cheers.]  Yet  nothing 
but  the  consciousness  that  just  at  this  moment  men  desperately 
wicked  have  deliberately  determined  to  make  one  last  expiring 
effort  to  break  down  the  reaction  set  in  from  the  people  against 
the  policy  of  this  Administration,  against  this  party  in  power, 
and  the  conviction  that  it  was  necessary  to  meet  that  instantly 
and  everywhere,  could  have  induced  me  to  be  here  to-night, 
wearied  and  exhausted  as  I  am  with  the  labors  of  Congress, 
which,  thank  God,  has  just  expired  [Laughter  and  cheers], 
absent  from  home  for  many  months,  my  own  business  ne 
glected,  the  politics  of  my  own  State  allowed  to  pass  by  for 
the  present  —  nothing,  I  say,  but  these  considerations  -could 
have  induced  me  to  be  present  to-night ;  but  I  rejoice  that  I 
am  here,  and  look  in  the  face,  and  am  looked  in  the  face  by 
freemen  —  men  whose  eyes  speak  the  determination  of  their 
hearts  to  meet  this  crisis  with  whatsoever  exigency  this  Ad 
ministration  may  choose  to  make  necessary.  [Applause.]  I 
am  no  revolutionist ;  I  am  in  all  'things  as  far  as  practicable  a 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  235 

peace  man,  and  want  peace  and  order  in  this  country.  I  am 
ready  to  submit  to  many  things  that  I  think  had  better  not  be 
attempted,  just  so  long  as  assemblages  of  the  people,  and 
the  ballot,  which  are  the  great  correctives  of  evil,  and  which 
were  intended  by  our  fathers  to  be  the  machinery  by  which 
peaceable  revolution  should  be  accomplished  in  the  admini 
stration  of  government,  remain  untouched ;  but  I  say  to  the 
Administration :  i  Lay  not  your  hands  at  the  foundation  of 
the  fabric  of  our  liberties ;  you  may  lop  off  a  branch  here  and 
there,  and  it  will  survive ;  we  may  tolerate  that  for  the  sake 
of  a  greater  good  hereafter ;  but  whenever  you  reach  forth  your 
hand  to  strike  at  the  very  vitals  of  public  liberty,  then  the 
people  must  and  will  determine  in  their  capacity  what  remedy 
the  occasion  demands.'  [Cheers.]  But  we  have  not  come  to 
that ;  I  have  seen  enough  already  to  satisfy  me  upon  that  sub 
ject,  not  in  the  West  only,  about  which  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
but  in  Philadelphia,  the  most  terror-ridden  city  in  the  Union 
eighteen  months  ago.  The  spirit  of  the  men  born  within  the 
sound  of  Independence  bell  yet  survives  in  all  its  grandeur 
and  its  majesty  [applause] ;  and  I  think  I  can  answer,  not 
merely  from  what  I  see  here  to-night,  but  from  what  elsewhere 
in  other  ways  I  have  learned,  that  the  spirit  of  the  people  of 
New  York  is  not  behind." 

After  referring  to  some  of  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the 
men  in  power,  and  their  infringements  on  the  rights  of  the 
people,  he  continues: — 

"  Now,  all  this,  infamous  and  execrable  as  it  is,  is  enough 
to  make  the  blood  of  the  coldest  man  who  has  one  single 
appreciation  in  his  heart  of  freedom,  to  boil.  [Loud  applause.] 
Still,  so  long  as  they  leave  to  us  free  assemblages,  free  discus 
sion  and  a  free  ballot,  I  do  not  want  to  see,  and  will  not 
encourage  or  countenance  any  other  mode  of  getting  rid  of  it. 
["  That's  it/7  and  cheers.]  We  are  ready  to  try  these  questions 
in  that  way ;  but  I  have  only  to  repeat  what  I  said  a  little 
while  ago,  that  when  the  attempt  is  made  to  take  away  that 
other  right,  and  the  only  instrumentality  peaceably  of  reform 
ing  and  correcting  abuses  —  free  assemblages,  free  speech,  free 
ballot  and  free  elections — that  then  the  hour  will  have  arrived 
when  it  will  be  the  duty  of  freemen  to  find  some  other  and 


236  LIFE   OF  •  CLEMENT  -  L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

efficient  mode  of  defending  their  liberties.  [Loud  and  pro 
tracted  cheering,  the  whole  audience  rising  to  their  feet.]  Our 
fathers  did  not  inaugurate  the  Bevolution  of  1776,  they  did 
not  endure  the,  sufferings  and  privations  of  the  seven  years' 
war,  to  escape  from  the  mild  and  moderate  control  of  a  consti 
tutional  monarchy  like  England,  to  be  at  last  in  the  third 
generation  subjected  to  a  tyranny  equal  to  that  of  any  upon 
the  face  of  the  globe.  [Loud  applause.]  Now,  Sir,  I  repeat 
that  it  will  not  in  my  judgment  come  to  this.  I  do  not  believe 
that  this  Administration  will  undertake  to  deprive  us  of  that 
right.  I  do  not  think  it  will  venture  for  one  moment  to  at 
tempt  to  prevent,  under  any  pretext  whatever,  the  assembling 
together  of  the  people  for  the  fair  discussion  of  their  measures 
and  policy.  I  do  not  believe  'it,  because  it  seems  to  me  with  all 
the  folly  and  madness  that  have  been  manifested  in  these  high 
places,  it  seems  to  me  they  must  foresee  what  will  inevitably 
follow.  ,  Believing  this,  and  believing  that  the  best  way  of 
averting  the  crisis  is  to  demand  inexorably  and  resolutely,  with 
the  firmness  and  dignity  of  freemen,  these  rights,  and  let  them 
know  distinctly  that  we  do  not  mean  to  surrender  them,  I  am 
here  to-night  to  proclaim  it  just  as  I  have.  [Loud  applause.]" 

The  following  is  the  closing  paragraph  of  his  speech : — 

"I  make  no  threats  —  no  wise  man  ever  did.  [Cheers.] 
I  never  yield  to  threats,  therefore  I  expect  no  one  else  to  yield; 
but,  as  I  have  said,  in  the  spirit  of  warning,  as  one  who  would 
avert  a  struggle  which  this  people  will  make  to  maintain  their 
liberties,  I  have  spoken,  and  I  wrould  that  my  voice  could  pene 
trate  that  most  impenetrable  of  all  recesses,  the  precincts  of  the 
White  House,  and  that  the  men  who  are  surrounded  by  the  par 
asites  of  power  —  the  flatterers  who  are  the  vermin  of  courts, 
with  that  legion  of  contractors  and  place-men  who  speak  not  the 
truth  and  represent  not  the  people — that  a  voice  from  the 
people  could  reach  their  ears,  and  that  the  voice  being  heard 
might  be  heeded.  Then  shall  we  escape  the  convulsions  which 
have  visited  other  countries ;  the  scenes  of  revolutions  in  former 
times  will  not  be  enacted  in  our  midst,  but  peaceably  and 
quietly,  under  the  Constitution  and  in  accordance  with  law,  the 
changes  of  administration  successively  year  after  year  will  go 
on  in  this  country,  which  before  God  I  believe,  and  it  is  the 
faith  and  hope  of  my  heart,  is  destined  yet  once  again  in  peace, 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   Le    VALLANDIGHAM.  237 

happiness  and  prosperity  to  realise  that  most  splendid  of  visions 
that  ever  fell  upon  human  eyes  — one  Union,  one  'Constitution, 
one  Destiny." 

From  New  York  city  Mr.  Yallandigham  proceeded  to 
Albany,  and  after  conferring  with  leading  men  of  the  party,  on 
the. state  of  the,  country,  passed  into  Connecticut,  and  made  a 
speech  or  two  in  the  canvass  then  in  progress  preparatory  tc 
the  approaching  election.  He  then  turned  his  face  homeward, 
and  arriving  at  Dayton  on  the  13th  of  March,  received  a  most 
cordial  and  enthusiastic  welcome.  The  account  of  it  is  thus 
given  in  the  Dayton  'Empire:-—  j 

"Hon..  C.  L.  Yallandigham  arrived  at  his  home  in  this  city 
at  4  J  yesterday  p.  M.,  and  although  but  two  days7  notice  was  had 
'of  his  coming,  received  one  of  the  greatest  ovations  ever  given 
to  any  man  in  Ohio.  Long  before  the  hour  of  arrival  of  the 
train  on  which  he  was  expected,  his  constituents  began  to  flock 
to  the  depdt  by  thousands.  '  It  seemed  as  if  every  man,  woman 
and  child'  in  the  District  had  come  out  to  do  honor  to  this 
champion  '  advocate  of  Constitutional  right.  Two  bands  of 
music  enlivened  the  occasion,  while  a  cannon  belched  forth  with 
its  thunder-tones  of  welcome,  awakening  the  valley  of  the 
Miami  as  it  was  seldom  if  ever  awakened  before.  Presently 
the  whistling  of  the  locomotive  was  heard,  and  as  the  train 
neared  the  depot,  the  thousands  of  persons  rushed  forward,  all 
eager  to  catch  the  first  sight  of  the  man  who  has  so  nobly,  gal 
lantly  and  fearlessly  represented  the  white  man's  interest  in  the 
Congress  that  has  just  adjourned.  The  crowd  was  so  dense 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  Mr.  Yallandigham  to  reach 
the  carriage  which  was  in  readiness  to  convey  him  to  the  Court 
House,  from  the  steps  of  which  he  was  to  speak.  Having  at 
length  been  almost  carried  to  his  carriage,  and  being  seated,  lie 
was  hailed  with  deafening  cheers,  while  the  cannon  responded 
with  thirty-four  rounds.  The  procession  being  formed,  pre 
ceded  by  the  Marshals  and  bands  of  music,  proceeded  to  the 
Court  House,  where  the  reception  speech  was  made  by  Hon. 
David  A.  Houk,  who  said : — 

"  Honored  Sir: — I  have  been  commissioned  by  your  friends 


238  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

of  this  city  and  county,  and  throughout  the  3rd  Congressional 
District,  to  extend  to  you  upon  this  occasion,  and  in  their 
behalf,  their  most  cordial  and  friendly  greeting,  and  to  bid  you 
a  hearty  welcome  upon  your  return  to  the  bosom  of  your  home 
and  of  your  friends. 

"  There  is  perhaps  no  public  man  in  the  country  who  has 
more  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  devotion  of  his  hosts  of  friends 
than  yourself.  This  vast  assemblage,  Sir,  by  their  very 
presence  here,  speak  in  a  language  far  more  potent  and  signifi 
cant  than  any  words  I  can  utter,  their  heartfelt  approval  and 
commendation  of  your  course  as  their  representative  in  the 
councils  of  the  nation.  For  you  have  been  a  peace  man,  Sir, 
and  we  honor  you  for  it.  You  proclaimed  to  the  people  when 
this  most  unnatural,  and  in  the  language  of  the  President,  this 
unnecessary  and  injurious  civil  war  was  about  to  be  inaugurated, 
that  a  conflict  of  arms  would  but  widen  the  breach,  that  a 
government  founded  upon  the  principle  of  consent  —  a  free 
government  —  could  never  be  maintained  by  force.  You  had 
learned  your  lessons  of  wisdom  from  the  principles  of  the 
fathers  who  conceived  and  established  our  system  of  govern 
ment.  These  principles,  founded  in  eternal  truth  at  the  very 
inception  of  the  great  political  organization  to  which  you  and 
I  have  the  honor  of  belonging,  were  engrafted  upon  its'  creed. 

"You,  Sir,  have  been  a  faithful  sentinel  upon  the  watch- 
tower  of  public  liberty ;  and  in  the  darkest  hours  of  the  night, 
and  when  the  storms  of  popular  fury  raged  most  fiercely,  have 
kept  the  light  of  hope  burning,  and  have  promptly,  fearlessly, 
and  resolutely  sounded  the  alarm  upon  every  approach  to 
danger. 

"  An  ancient  Jewish  king,  upon  a  memorable  occasion,  as  we 
are  informed  by  the  Inspired  Book,  called  all  the  princes  of 
Israel,  the  captains,  the  stewards  of  all  the  substance  of  his 
household  and  of  his  children,  and  all  the  valiant  men,  unto 
Jerusalem.  And  when  he  had  assembled  them  about  him,  he 
stood  up  upon  his  feet  and  said :  '  Hear,  my  brethren,  and  my 
people ;  as  for  me,  I  had  it  in  my  heart  to  build  a  house  of  rest 
for  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  for  the  footstool  of 
our  God,  and  had  made  ready  for  the  building;  but  God  said 
unto  me,  Thou  shalt  not  build  a  house  for  my  name,  because 
thou  hast  been  a  man  of  war,  and  hast  shed  blood/ 

"  WJien  the  shattered  Temple  of  Constitutional  Liberty  comes 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  239 

to  be  reconstructed  in  this  country,  it  will  not  be  done  by  the  men 
of  blood. 

"  You,  Sir,  have  not  been  unmindful  of  these  Divine  admo 
nitions,  and  of  the  promises  of  the  Gospel  of  Peace  as  uttered 
by  Him  who  spake  as  man  never  spake — '  Blessed  are  the 
peace-makers,  for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God.7 

"  You,  Sir,  may  well  feel  truly  thankful  that  your  counsels 
have  contributed  no  aid  or  encouragement  to  the  plunging  of 
the  country  into  this  fearful  and  bloody  civil  strife.  The  blood 
of  the  300,000  victims  that  have  been  sacrificed  will  fall  upon 
other  heads  than  yours. 

"  In  view  of  the  valuable  and  distinguished  services  which 
you  have  rendered  as  the  Representative  of  this  people,  and  of 
your  bold,  able  and  manly  vindication  of  the  principles  of  free 
government  and  of  popular  liberty,  whenever  and  wherever 
they  have  been  assailed,  regardless  alike  of  the  frowns  of  tyrants 
and  usurpers,  and  the  slanders,  vituperation  and  abuse  of  their 
venal  presses  and  minions,  permit  me,  Sir,  in  conclusion,  to  say 
that  we  have  thought  this  public  occasion  appropriate  and 
fitting  to  give  expression  of  our  gratitude  to  you  for  the  faith 
ful  manner  in  which  you  have  performed  your  trust. 

"  With  the  earnest  wish,  Sir,  that  your  life  may  be  spared 
for  many  long  years  of  future  iisefulness,  I  extend  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  and  again  bid  you  a  cheerful  and  hearty 
welcome  home. 


"  After  acknowledging  in  fitting  terms  the  cordial  and 
enthusiastic  reception,  he  referred  to  the  struggle  now  going  on 
between  despotic  power  and  liberty,  and  of  the  determination 
of  the  Democratic  party  to  maintain  free  speech,  a  free  press, 
id  the  ballot-box  at  all  hazards.  He  was  for  obedience  to  all 
laws,  and  for  requiring  the  men  in  power  also  to  obey  them. 
He  would  try  all  questions  of  Constitution  and  law  be*fore  the 
courts,  and  then  enforce  the  decrees  of  the  courts.  He  was  for 
trying  all  political  questions  by  the  ballot.  He  would  resist 
no  law  by  force ;  he  would  endure  almost  every  other  wrong  as 
long  as  free  discussion,  free  assemblages  of  the  people  and  a  free 
ballot  remained ;  but  the  moment  they  were  attacked,  he  would 
resist.  We  had  a  right  to  change  Administrations,  and  policies 
and  parties,  not  by  forcible  revolution,  but  by  the  ballot-box ; 


240  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  this  right  must  be  maintained  at  all  hazards.  He  would 
try  the  question  of  the  constitutionality  and  validity  of  the 
Conscription  Act  in  court,  and  argue  its  inexpediency  and 
odiousness  before  the  people,  but  would  have  no  resistance  to  it. 

"  He  closed  by  a  touching  allusion  to  the  assassination  of 
his  friend  'Bollmeyer,  the  first  martyr  in  the  cause  of  Con^ 
stitutional  liberty.  He  missed  from  that  vast  assemblage  one 
familiar  face,  one  manly  form.  That  form  once  possessed  as 
manly,  as  noble  a  heart  as  God  ever  gave  to  man.  That  form 
now  mouldered  beneath  the  clods  of  the  valley,  but  his  memory 
was  still  dear,  and  would  ever  remain  so  to  the  friends  of  the 
Union  and  of  law  and  order. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  descended  from  the  steps,  from  where 
he  had  spoken,  entered  his  carriage,  and  was  escorted  by  the 
crowd  to  his  residence." 

The  following  additional  account  is  from  the  same  paper : — 

"  The  reception  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  at  the  depot  last 
evening  was  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  affairs  we  ever  wit 
nessed.  'Several  thousand  people  —  mostly  personal  and  politi 
cal  friends  of  the  distinguished  Congressman  —  assembled  at 
the  depot  some  time  before  the  arrival  -of  the  train,  while  the 
cannon  '  awakened  the  echoes'  at  frequent  intervals.  When 
the  train  arrived,  and  Mr.  V.'  made  his  appearance  on  the 
platform,  the  cheers  that  greeted  him  left  no  doubt  about  the 
sincerity  of  the  welcome  extended  to  him  by  the  people  on  his 
return  home  The  shouts  were  really  deafening;  and  the 
waving  of  *white  handkerchiefs  from  hundreds  of  fair  hands 
gave  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  interest  the  ladies  felt  in  the 
safe  return  of  the  gentleman  whom  they  had  assembled  to 
honor. 

"  The  Reception  Committee  were  relieved  of  their  office  by 
the  crowd,  who  took  up  Mr.  V.  on  their  shoulders,  and  bore 
him,  amid  the  shouts  and  congratulations  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
to  the  carriage  awaiting  him.  The  procession  was  then  formed 
by  Marshals  Egry  and  Kline,  and  the  crowd,  preceded  by  the 
Regimental  Band,  and  followed  by  the  Salem  Band,  proceeded 
to  the  Court  House.  The  side- walks  were  crowded  all  the  way 
up  from  the  depot,  and  demonstrations  of  welcome  were  made 
by  the  people  all  along  the  streets.  At  the  corner  of  Main 
and  Third,  Mr.  V.  was  conducted  to  the  area  in  front  of  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  241 

Court  House.  As  we  have  already  stated,  (an  account  of  the 
meeting  at  that  point  is  given  elsewhere.  After  Mr.  V.  had 
concluded  his  remarks,  he  was  again  conducted  to  the  carriage, 
and  the  procession  again  formed,  and  accompanied  him  home, 
when  he  was  carried  into  the  house.  Altogether,  it  was  by  far 
the  most  hearty  and  enthusiastic  welcome  ever  extended  to  any 
one  in  this  city." 

On  his  return  home  Mr.  Yallandigham  found  his  own 
State,  and  Kentucky,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  formed  into  a  mili 
tary,  district  and  placed  under  the  command  of  General  A.  E. 
Burnside,  a  rash,  weak,  and  ignorant  man,  who,  evincing  at 
the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  his  total  incapacity  to  contend 
with  armed  rebels  at  the  South,  had  been  sent  to  control  un 
armed  Democrats  in  the  West  —  men  as  true  to  the  Union  as 
he  was,  but  who  claimed  the  privilege  of  dissenting  from  the 
policy  of  the  Administration,  and  freely  expressing  their  views 
on  public  aifairs.  He  found  the  Constitution  ignored,  the  laws 
disregarded,  and  in  their  stead  military  orders  of  the  most  des 
potic  kind  which  the  people  were  expected  implicitly  to  obey. 
One  of  these  was  Order  No.  38,  threatening  severe  punishment 
to  those  who  should  be  guilty  of  implied  treason  !  Another  was 
Order  No.  15,  prohibiting  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms; 
and  a  third,  No.  9,  prohibiting  any  criticism  whatever  of  the 
civil  or  military  policy  of  the  Administration.  To  such  gross 
violations  of  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  such  palpable 
infringements  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  Mr.  Yallandigham 
could  not  patiently  submit,  and  at  various  meetings  which  he 
addressed  during  the  months  of  March  and  April  he  denounced 
them  in  unsparing  terms,  and  declared  his  intention,  in  the 
future  as  in  the  past,  to  criticise  and  condemn  whatever  was 
wrong  in  the  course  and  conduct  of  the  men  in  power.  He 
16 


242  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

believed  that  it  was  their  intention  utterly  to  subdue  the 
spirit  of  the  people,  to  crush  out  freedom  of  the  press,  freedom 
of  speech,  and  freedom  of  assembling  together  to  discuss  polit 
ical  subjects ;  and  this  despotism  he  was  determined  to  resist 
at  all  hazards,  declaring  in  one  of  his  speeches,  "  If  it  be 
really  the  design  of  the  Administration  to  force  this  issue,  then 
come  arrest,  come  imprisonment,  come  exile,  come  death  itself! 
I  am  ready  here  to-night  to  meet  it." 

On  the  21st  of  March  a  very  large  meeting  was  held  in 
Hamilton.  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  present,  and  commented 
freely  and  severely  on  Order  No.  15,  which  had  just  been 
issued.  His  remarks  will  sufficiently  indicate  the  character  of 
that  order. 

"I  will  not  speak  disrespectfully  of  Colonel  Carrington; 
he  and  I  served  pleasantly  together  in  the  militia  of  Ohio  on 
the  peace  establishment  [laughter],  and  I  found  him  always 
gentlemanly  in  his  deportment.  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  he'is 
still  so  regarded  at  Indianapolis.  How  could  he  have  issued 
such  an  order  ?  I  know  he  is  '  great *  on  general  orders ;  but 
such  a  one  passes  my  comprehension.  I  am  sure  he  cannot 
want  to  do  wrong,  for  he  must  know  that  two  years  hence, 
under  the  legislation  of  the  late  Congress,  a  Democratic  Presi 
dent  or  Secretary  of  War  —  and  who  knows  but  I  may  be 
Secretary  of  War  myself?  [laughter  and  cheers]  —  can  strike 
his  name  from  the  roll  without  even  a  why  or  a  wherefore. 
It  would  be  well  for  all  ambitious  military  gentlemen  just  now 
to  recollect  this  small  fact  and  confine  themselves  strictly  to 
their  legal  and  Constitutional  military  duties,  and  to  allow 
others  to  enjoy  their  opinions  and  civil  rights  unmolested. 

".But  to  the  order.     Here  it  is : — 

"  *  HEADQUARTERS  UNITED  STATES  FORCES,     ) 
' '  INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  March  17,  1863.  \ 

U{  General  Order  No.  15. 

" '  1 .  The  habit  of  carrying  arms  upon  the  person  has 
greatly  increased/  Well,  so  it  has,  and  in  times  of  threats  and 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLAKDIGHAM.  243 

danger  like  these,  it  ought  to,  and  in  spite  of  all  orders  it  will 
increase.  'And  is  prejudicial  to  peace  and  good  order/  Sir, 
restore  to  us  peace  and  good  order,  and  we  will  lay  aside  all 
arms,  and  be  glad  of  the  chance.  [Great  applause.]  '  As  well 
as  a  violation  of  civil  law.7  I  deny  it ;  but  if  so,  who  gave 
authority  to  this  gentleman  to  lecture  on  civil  law  in  a  military 
order  ?  '  Especially  at  this  time  it  is  unnecessary,  impolitic  and 
dangerous/  Was  ever  the  like  read  or  heard  of  before  ?  '  At 
this  time ' —  at  a  time  when  Democrats  are  threatened  with 
violence  everywhere ;  when  mobs  are  happening  every  day,  and 
Democratic  presses  destroyed ;  w,hen  secret  societies  are  being 
formed  all  over  the  country  to  stimulate  to  violence ;  when  at 
hotels  and  in  depots,  and  in  railroad  cars  and  on  the  street 
corners  Democrats  are  scowled  at  and  menaced,  a  military  order 
coolly  announces  that  it  is  unnecessary,  impolitic,  and  danger 
ous  to  carry  arms !  And  who  signs  this  order  ?  '  Henry  B. 
Carrington,  Colonel  18th  U.  JS.  Infantry,  Commanding.'  Com 
manding  what?  The  18th  U.  S.  Infantry,  or  at  most  the 
United  States  forces  of  Indiana  —  but  not  the  people,  the  free 
white  American  citizens  of  American  descent  not  in  the  military 
service.  That  is  the  extent  of  his  authority,  and  no  more. 

"  And  now,  Sir,  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  general  order  also — ^an 
order  binding  on  all  military  men  and  all  civilians  alike  —  on 
colonels  and  generals  and  commanders-in-chief,  State  and  Fed 
eral.  [Applause.]  Hear  it :  '  The  right  of  +he  people  TO  KEEP 
AND  BEAR  ARMS  shall  not  be  infringed.7  By  order  of  the  States 
and  people  of  the  United  States,  George  Washington  command 
ing.  [Great  cheering.]  That,  Sir,  is  General  Order  No.  1 — 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  [Loud  cheers.]  Who 
now  is  to  be  obeyed  —  Carrington  or  Washington? 

"  But  I  have  another '  order '  yet.  '  The  people  have  a  right 
to  bear  arms  for  their  defence  and  security,  and  the  military 
shall  be  in  strict  subordination  to  the  civil  power/  [Renewed 
cheering.]  That,  Sir,  is  General  Order  No,  2  —  the  Constitu 
tion  of  Ohio,  by  order  of  the  people  of  Ohio.  Here,  Sir,  are 
our  warrants  for  keeping  and  bearing  arms,  and  by  the  blessing 
of  God  we  mean  to  do  it ;  and  if  the  men  in  power  undertake 
in  an  evil  hour  to  demand  them  of  us,  we  will  return  the  Spar 
tan  answer,  '  Come  and  take  them/ 

"  But  Colonel  Carrington's  order  proceeds  : — i  The  Major- 
General  commanding  the  department  of  the  Ohio/  •  Command- 


244  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

ing  whom,  again  I  ask  ?  Only  the  military  forces  of  the 
department  of  Ohio,  but  not  a  single  citizen  in  it.  '  Having 
ordered  that  all  sales  of  arms,  powder,  lead,  and  percussion 
caps  be  prohibited  until  further  orders/  Where,  Sir,  is  the 
law  for  all  that  ?  Are  we  a  conquered  province,  governed  by 
military  proconsuls  ?  And  so  then  has  it  come  to  this,  that 
the  Constitution  iii  now  suspended  by  a  military  general  order 
No.  15!  Sir,  the  constitutional  right  to  keep  and  bear  arms 
carries  with  it  the  right  to  buy  and  sell  arms ;  and  fire-arms 
are  useless  without  powder,  lead,  and  percussion  caps.  It  is 
our  right  to  have  them,  and  we  mean  to  obey  general  orders 
Nos.  1  and  2,  instead  of  No.  15.  [Loud  applause.] 

"  But  I  read  further : — ( And  that  any  violation  of  said 
order  will  be  followed  by  the  confiscation  of  the  goods  sold, 
and  the  seizure  of  the  stock  of  the  vendor/  Is  the  man  de 
ranged  ?  Confiscation  indeed !  Why,  Sir,  the  men  who  are 
clothed  now  with  a  little  brief  authority  seem  to  think  of 
nothing  except  taxation,  emancipation,  confiscation,  conscrip 
tion,  and  every  other  word  ending  in  t— i— o— n.  [Laughter.] 
But  General  Order  No.  1  says,  '  No  man  shall  be  deprived  of 
property  without  due  process  of  law ; '  and  General  Order 
No.  2  says  i  private  property  shall  ever  be  held  inviolate,  and 
every  person  for  an  injury  done  him  in  his  land,  goods,  person 
or  reputation,  shall  have  remedy  by  due  course  of  law.7  And 
though  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  may  be  suspended,  the  writs 
of  replevin  and  injunction  cannot  be.  [Cries  of  "  good,  good."] 

"But  Order  No.  15  proceeds  :  '  And  said  order  having  been 
extended  by  the  Major-General  to  cover  the  entire  department, 
is  hereby  promulged/  Yes,  promulged — 'for  immediate  ob 
servance  throughout  the  State/  Can  military  insolence  go 
further  ?  Is  this  the  way  the  military  is  to  be  in  strict  sub 
ordination  to  the  civil  power  ?  And  does  the  Colonel  com 
manding  the  18th  United  States  Infantry  thus  undertake  to 
promulge  a  general  order  suspending  or  abrogating  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  and  of  Indiana  ?  Are  we  living 
in  America  or  Austria  ? 

"And  now  the  fitting  commentary  on  all  this  attempt  to  dis 
arm  the  white  man,  while  public  arms  are  being  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  negro,  is  in  the  second  section  ®f  this  general 
order  No.  15,  alluding  to  the  recent  destruction  of  a  Democratic 
printing-press,  by  what  the  Colonel  commanding  the  18th 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  245 

U.  S.  Infantry,  drawing  it  mild  after  the  fashion  of  Sairey  Gamp, 
calls  '  a  popular  demonstration ; '  and  yet  not  one  of  the  per 
petrators  of  this  outrage,  although  soldiers  and  under  military 
law,  have  been  punished,  nor  ever  will  be.  Yet  at  such  a  time 
of  lawless  violence  it  is  proposed  that  the  people  shall  be  dis 
armed  !  Never !  [Loud  cheers.]  Sir,  I  repeat  now  what  I 
believe  to  be  the  true  programme  for  these  times  :  Try  every 
question  of  law  in  your  courts,  and  every  question  of  politics 
before  the  people  and  through  the  ballot-box ;  maintain  your 
constitutional  rights  at  all  hazards  against  military  usurpation. 
Let  there  be  no  resistance  to  law,  but  meet  and  repel  all  mobs 
and  mob  violence  by  force  and  arms  on  the  spot.  [Great  and 
continued  cheering.]  " 

About  this  time  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Alfred 
Sanderson,  Esq.,  of  Lancaster,  Pa. : — 

"DAYTON,  OHIO,  April  24,  1863. 

"  My  engagements  in  New  York  precluded  me  from  accept 
ing  your  invitation  and  addressing  you  previous  to  my  return 
West.  I  expect  to  go  East  about  the  12th  of  May  or  16th  of 
June,  and  if  I  do,  I  will  if  possible  visit  Lancaster  going  or 
coming,  and  address  your  Democracy.  Indeed,  it  will  give 
me  great  pleasure  to  comply  with  your  invitation.  Should  I 
be  able  to  come,  I  will  advise  you  in  time. 

"  Meamvhile  let  me  say  that  everything  depends  on  keeping 
the  Democratic  party  up  to  the  full  measure  of  principle  and 
sound  policy,  true  to  the  Constitution,  faithful  to  the  Union , 
steadfast  to  the  Government  which  they  constitute,  and  devoted 
to  liberty  at  the  hazard  of  life  itself.  Truth  and  reason  applied 
to  these  high  and  sacred  objects  are  the  only  powers  or  agencies 
left  to  the  Democracy,  and  by  a  bold  and  manly  use  alone  of 
them  can  we  succeed  in  the  elections.  Everything  else  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  Abolition  party  —  the  Administration. 
Through  the  press,  but  especially  by  public  meetings  and  open 
and  courageous  organization,  this  use  is  to  be  made.  Good 
men  individually  upon  our  ticket  will  not  be  enough.  The 
people  are  not  now  voting  for  men,  but  for  ideas,  principles, 
policies.  No  public  man  is  worth  a  rush  now  unless  he  repre 
sents  something  besides  candidacy  for  an  office.  Enthusiasm  is 


246  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

power  —  a  greater  power,  especially  among  the  masses,  among 
workingmen  and  a  rural  population,  than  any  agency  which 
this  Administration  can  bring  to  bear,  whether  it  be  corruption 
or  force ;  but  there  can  be  no  popular  enthusiasm  for  any  one, 
above  all  just  in  these  times  of  powerful  commotion,  unless  he 
is  the  embodiment,  or  at  least  a  representative,  of  some  great 
principle  or  cause.  And  to  be  effective  it  must  be  antagonistic 
to  some  other  and  opposite  principle  or  cause ;  and  the  stronger 
and  more  direct  the  antagonism,  the  better.  This  is  essential 
now. 

"  Last  summer  and  fall  the  Administration  was  unsettled, 
ostensibly  at  least,  in  its  policy,  and  its  party  therefore  more  or 
less  divided.  Not  so  now.  It  has  a  policy,  and  means  stead 
fastly  to  adhere  to  it.  Whoever  supports  the  Administration 
now,  supports  its  policy.  All  apology  for  temporising  by  the 
Democratic  party  is  utterly  gone.  The  Administration  Aboli 
tion  party  is  thoroughly  consolidated,  and  unquestionably  it  is 
now  contending  solely  for  unity  and  a  strong  centralised  govern 
ment  through  war,  and,  failing  in  this,  then  disunion.  And  it 
will  rally  to  its  support  all  men  who  from  any  cause,  sentiment, 
or  interest,  are  in  favor  of  either  the  object  or  the  means.  Now 
the  direct  antagonism  of  all  this  is,  union  and  constitutional 
liberty  through  an  honorable  peace.  And  what  nobler  principle 
or  idea,  what  holier  cause  for  the  Democratic  party  to  struggle 
for?  Arguments  and  appeals  without  number,  the  strongest 
ever  urged,  can  be  arrayed  in  its  support  —  from  religion,  from 
philosophy,  from  human  nature,  politics,  history,  from  the 
principles  of  our  form  of  government,  and  from  the  utter  and 
inevitable  failure  of  all  other  means  of  securing  that  great  end. 
With  all  these  agencies  at  our  command,  an  enthusiasm  can  be 
evoked  from  the  hearts  of  the  people  before  which  all  opposi 
tion  will  be  swept  away  as  by  a  consuming  fire. 

"The   recent    elections    throughout   the    Northwest   have 
resulted  most  auspiciously  for  the  Democratic  cause,  and  carry 
rejoicing  to  every  patriotic  and  truly  Union  heart. 
"  Very  truly, 

"  C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 
"ALFRED  SANDERSON,  Esq.'* 

On  the  evening  of  the  30th  of  April  he  addressed  a  meet 
ing  in  Columbus.  A  brief  account  of  the  meeting  and  of  his 
speech  we  take  from  the  Ohio  Statesman  of  May  2d : — 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  247 

"  Early  on  Thursday  evening  the  people  began  to  gather 
at  the  west  front  of  the  State  House,  to  hear  an  address  from 
Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham.  Hemmersbach's  band  came  up 
and  played  inspiring  national  airs.  The  assembly  continued  to 
increase  and  soon  swelled  to  twro  or  three  thousand  persons,  n 
goodly  proportion  of  whom  were  ladies. 

"The  meeting  was  organised  by  the  appointment  of  E.  F. 
Bingham,  Esq.,  as  Chairman.  Mr.  Vallandigham  then  pro 
ceeded  to  address  the  vast  assemblage  in  an  eloquent  and  im 
pressive  speech  of  over  two  hours  in  length.  He  made  a  bold 
and  manly  defence  of  the  right  of  the  people  to  assemble  in 
times  of  peace  or  war,  and  to  discuss  and  hear  discussed  the 
policy  of  any  administration,  and  to  approve  or  condemn  the 
official  acts  of  any  one  in  civil  or  military  authority. 

"  Mr.  V.  declared  his  unfaltering  devotion  to  the  Union  of 
the  States,  and  that  never  with  his  consent  should  peace  be 
purchased  at  the  price  of  disunion.  Such,  he  affirmed,  was 
the  universal  sentiment  of  the  Democratic  party.  He  demon 
strated  that  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  party,  while  they  had 
persistently  from  the  beginning  of  jfche  war  rejected  all  measures 
for  the  restoration  of  peace  with  the  Union,  had  been  ready  and 
willing  to  agree  to  a  peace  upon  terms  of  disunion.  It  was 
because  Democrats  would  not  agree  to  any  settlement  of  the 
great  controversy  which  did  not  contemplate  the  restoration  of 
the  Union  with  all  the  States  in  it,  and  with  the  rights  of  all 
under  the  Constitution  unimpaired,  that  they  were  denounced 
by  Abolition  disunionists  as  rebels  and  traitors. 

"  Many  other  points  were  made  by  Mr.  V.,  to  which  we 
have  not  space  even  to  allude.  During  his  long  speech,  quiet 
and  good  order  pervaded  the  entire  audience,  unbroken,  save 
by  the  low  murmur  of  some  Abolitionist  who  retired  wounded 
from  the  field,  or  the  loud  shouts  of  approval  that  frequent!}' 
rose  from  the  audience." 


On  the  next  day,  the  first  day  of  May,  Mr.  Vallandigham 
addressed  a  very  large  assemblage  at  Mt.  Vernon,  and  as 
this  was  the  occasion  on  which  he  made  the  speech  for  which 
ostensibly  he  was  arrested,  we  will  give  a  fuller  account  of  the 
meeting  than  would  otherwise  be  necessary ;  and  for  .L£j 


248  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

account  we  are  indebted  principally  to  James  T.  Irvine,  Esq., 
one  of  the  secretaries.  After  speaking  of  the  assemblages  of 
the  people  at  various  places  in  the  fall  of  1862  and  the  spring 
of  1863,  he  says  : — 

"  The  meetings  I  have  referred  to  were  purely  voluntary 
and  spontaneous;  indeed  the  Democracy  were  solicitous  for 
them  all  over  the  State.  They  proceeded  from  the  people 
themselves  in  their  several  localities,  and  were  not  appointed 
or  called  for  by  State  Central  Committees  or  organizations. 
Mr.  Vallandigham  regarded  these  demonstrations  of  popular 
opinion  as  favorable  signs  of  the  times  —  as  manifestations  of 
such  an  overwhelming  popular  sentiment  in  behalf  of  the  old 
system  of  government  according  to  the  Constitution  and  laws 
as  would  oblige  the  .Lincoln  Administration  to  observe  the 
established  requirements  of  '  the  best  government  the  sun  ever 
shone  upon/  In  conversation  with  friends,  including  the 
writer,  Mr.  Vallandigham  expressed  strongly  his  opinion  that 
such  meetings  and  keeping 'them  up  were  necessary  to  main 
tain,  preserve  and  perpetuate  the  spirit  of  liberty  among  the 
people  at  large,  and  thus  save  it  from  being  utterly  destroyed  in 
this  country  by  the  despotism  and  tyranny  of  the  ruling  powers. 
And  not  only  Mr.  Vallandigham,  -but  many  others  of  our 
leading  men  believed  and  held  that  the  vindication,  by  these 
meetings  and  the  speeches  addressed  to  them,  of  the  right  of 
the  people  to  peaceably  assemble  and  discuss  public  affairs  and 
petition  for  a  redress  of  grievances,  was  what  secured  that 
right  then  and  thereafter  from  being  forever  stricken  down. 
And  it  is  a  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  Democracy  of  Ohio 
to-day  that  their  manly  nomination  and  support  by  speech, 
press  and  votes,  and  with  their  lives  if  necessary  to  an  exer 
cise  of  their  right  to  do  so,  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  for  Governor 
in  1863,  did  more  than  anything  since  the  American  Revolution 
of  1776  to  establish  the  right  of  freemen  to  speak  and  vote 
their  opinions  on  questions  of  common  interest  and  concern. 

"  The  immense  mass-meeting  held  at  Mount  Vernon,  Ohio, 
on  May-day,  1863,  was  not,  however,  held  on  Mr  Vallan- 
digham's  suggestion,  but  at  the  instance  of  the  Democracy  of 
Knox  County,  of  which  Mount  Vernon  is  the  county  seat.  The 
Democratic  people  of  the  county  called  for  the  meeting  with 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  249 

one  accord.  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  Hon.  Geo.  H.  Pendle- 
ton,  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox,  and  many  other  eminent  speakers  (includ 
ing,  I  think,  Hon.  D.  W.  Voorhees,  of  Indiana),  were  specially 
invited  by  the  local  committee.  As  the  time  for  the  meeting 
came  near,  Mr.  Vallandigham  found  he  had  made  so  many 
other  engagements  that  it  would  not  be  convenient  for  him  to 
be  at  the  Mt.  Yernon  meeting,  and  this  fact  came  to  the  know 
ledge  of  the  local  committee.  The  members  of  this  committee 
felt  the  keenest  disappointment,  and  in  fact  alarm,  at  the 
information  of  Mr.  Vallandigham's  probable  absence.  They 
knew  there  would  be  an  immense  meeting,  that  it  would  be 
clamorous  for  Mr.  V.  above  everybody  else,  and  that  they  (the 
members  of  the  committee)  would  be  severely  criticised  and 
censured  for  failing  to  procure  Mr.  V.  as  a  speaker  for  the 
occasion.  There  was  still  another  and  stronger  reason  why 
Mr.  V.'s  presence  was  desired.  A  certain  portion  of  the  citi 
zens  of  the  county  felt  so  indignant  at  the  Abolition  policy,  the 
drafts  and  the  arbitrary  arrests  and  imprisonments  by  the 
Administration,  that  on  the  advice  of  indiscreet  persons  they 
were  ready  for  opposition  and  even  resistance  of  the  most 
desperate  nature.  It  was  the  good  influence  of  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  to  caution  them  against  any  such  imprudence  that 
made  his  presence  and  counsel  so  desirable  and  even  requisite. 
L.  Harper,  Esq.,  editor  of  the  Mt.  Yernon  Democratic  Banner, 
was  therefore  sent  to  meet  Mr.  Vallandigham  at  the  Neil 
House  in  Columbus  to  present  the  circumstances  of  the  case  as 
above  stated,  and  not  to  take  any  refusal  from  Mr.  V.  to  be 
present  and  make  a  speech.  Mr.  Harper  took  a  note  to  Mr. 
V.  from  the  writer  of  this  letter  (who  was  secretary  of  the 
meeting),  urging  him  to  come  by  all  means  for  the  reasons 
above  stated.  The  consequence  of  these  representations  was 
that  Mr.  V.  agreed  with  Mr.  Harper  to  be  on  hand  provided 
he  was  returned  to  Newark  in  the  evening  of  the  day  of  the 
meeting,  so  as  to  take  a  train  from  there  and  reach  some  other 
point  in  time  to  fulfil  his  next  engagement.  This  agreement 
was  executed  accordingly. 

"  Although  I  cannot  recollect  Mr.  Vallandigham's  words 
in  his  speech  to  the  meeting,  I  have  a  distinct  impression  of 
the  fact  that  he  counselled  the  people  to  be  firm  but  temperate 
in  their  protests  against  the  unwarrantable  proceedings  of  the 
men  temporarily  invested  with  absolute  power,  and  to  trust  .to 


250  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

the  sober  second- thought  and  the  might  of  the  people  through 
the  ballot-box  to  vindicate  their  true  principles  and  outraged 
representatives. 

"  Other  speakers  at  the  meeting  used  stronger  terms  of  de 
nunciation  than  Mr.  V.,  and  hence  there  was  much  surprise 
that  he  was  singled  out  for  tyrannic  vengeance.  From  the 
false  allegations  of  the  infamous  spies  and  informers  on  which 
he  was  arrested,  the  summary  trial  by  a  packed  military  com 
mission,  the  so-called  i  conviction  contrary  to  the  weight  of 
evidence,  and  the  sentence"  and  exile,  considered  together,  the 
inference  was  irresistible,  in  the  minds  of  his  friends  at  least, 
that  his  removal  from  before  the  people,  to  prepare  the  way  for 
the  complete  intimidation  and  forcible  and  fraudulent  crush 
ing  out  of  the  people's  views  and  votes  which  followed  in  the 
State  and  Presidential  elections  of  1863  and  1864,  had  been 
deliberately  resolved  upon  as  a  political  necessity." 

In  the  foregoing  statement  an  important  fact  is  developed 
to  which  we  invite  special  attention.  A  prominent  reason  why 
the  presence  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  especially  desired  at 
this  meeting  was  that  he  might  caution  certain  persons  who, 
becoming  restive  under  the  oppressions  to  which  they  were 
subjected,  were  in  danger  of  breaking  out  into  open  resistance. 
It  was  supposed  that  a  caution  from  him  who  was  well  known 
for  his  firmness  and  courage  and  determination,  would  have 
weight :  and  the  evidence  is  that  such  caution  was  given ;  that 
while  he  exhorted  the  people  to  stand  firm  in  defence  of  their 
rights,  he  at  the  same  time  counselled  them  to  be  patient  and 
forbearing,  waiting  for  the  "  sober  second-thought,"  and  look 
ing  to  the  ballot-box  for  a  redress  of  their  grievances. 

The  following  account  of  the  meeting  we  take  from  the 
Democratic  Banner  of  May  9th,  published  in  Mount  Vernon  : 

"  Friday,  May  1st,  1863,  was  a  proud  and  glorious  day  for 
the  faithful  and  unconquerable  Democracy  of  old  Knox,  and 
one  that  will  long  be  remembered  by  them  with  high  and 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  251 

patriotic  pleasure.  Early  in  the  morning  the  people  began  to 
come  to  town  in  wagons,  carriages,  and  on  horseback.  Be 
tween  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  the  processions  from  the  several 
townships  arrived,  and  took  the  places  assigned  them  by  the 
Marshals.  The  processions  were  composed  of  wagons,  car 
riages,  buggies,  &c.,  filled  with  people  of  both  sexes  and  all 
ages,  and  of  numerous  horsemen.  A  remarkably  large  number 
of  national  flags,  with  all  the  stars  of  the  Union  as  it  was,  on 
hickory  poles,  formed  a  very  prominent  and  pleasing  feature 
in  each  of  these  processions.  A  profusion  of  butternuts  and 
liberty  or  copperhead  pins,  Union  badges,  and  other  appropri 
ate  emblems  of  Liberty  and  Union,  were  also  distinguishable 
features. 

"Between  eleven  and  one  o'clock  the  township  processions 
were  united,  and  the  grand  procession  filed  through  the  prin 
cipal  streets  of  the  city,  making  a  splendid  display.  It  v/a.; 
from  four  to  five  miles  in  length,  and  was  over  two  hours  in 
passing  any  one  point.  About  500  wagons,  carriages,  &c., 
came  to  town  in  the  township  processions,  a  number  of  which, 
however,  dropped  out  of  line  before  the  grand  procession  was 
formed.  The  Democracy  of  the  city  displayed  numerous  flags 
on  their  private  residences  and  places  of  business,  and  the  pro 
cessions  heartily  cheered  them  as  they  marched  by  them.  The 
scene  was  beautiful  and  exciting,  as  well  as  vast,  and  caused  all 
the  good  and  true  Union  men  who  witnessed  it  to  rejoice  in 
their  hearts  with  the  fond  hope  for  the  salvation  of  their 
country,  well  knowing  that  it  is  by  the  Democracy  that  this 
most  desirable  object  must  and  can  be  accomplished.  The 
greatest  enthusiasm  was  manifested  throughout  the  entire  line 
of  procession.  Cheers  upon  cheers  rent  the  air  in  hearty  ac 
claim.  The  hearts  and  consciences  of  those  giving  them  were 
pure  and  clear,  and  the  sounds  were  harmonious,  peaceful,  and 
patriotic. 

"  One  of  the  most  noticeable  and  pleasing  incidents  of  the 
procession  and  meeting,  was  a  very  large  wagon  drawn  by  six 
horses^  from  Wayne  township,  containing  thirty-four  young 
ladies  representing  the  thirty-four  States  of  the  Union.  The 
wagon  was  tastefully  shaded  with  evergreens,  in  which  the 
thirty-four  young  ladies  were  embowered. 

"  The  principal  stand  from  which  Messrs.  Vallandigham, 
Cox,  and  Pendleton  spoke,  was  canopied  by  large  and  beautiful 


252  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

American  flags,  and  surrounded  by  various  banners  and 
emblems,  all  betokening  the  undying  principles  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party. 

"  The  first  speaker  introduced  to  the  audience  was  the  bold 
and  fearless  patriot  and  statesman,  Hon.  C.  L.  Yallandighani, 
who  was  received  with  such  a  shout  of  applause  as  fairly  made 
the  welkin  ring.  He  proceeded  to  deliver  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  inspiring  true  Union  addresses  ever  made,  in  which 
he  also  evinced  his  unfaltering  devotion  to  Liberty  and  the 
Constitution.  Manliness,  candor,  genuine  patriotism,  and  true 
statesmanship  were  manifested  in  the  speaker  throughout.  If 
any  of  his  lying  detractors  were  present,  it  must  have  struck 
them  with  overwhelming  force,  and  caused  them  to  wince  with 
a  sense  of  their  foul  slanders.  Mr.  Y.  spoke  for  about  two 
hours,  and  was  listened  to  with  the  greatest  attention,  accom 
panied  with  tremendous  shouts  of  applause." 

A  very  interesting  account  of  the  meeting  in  a  letter  from 
Mt.Vernon,  dated  May  2d,  was  also  published  in  the  Columbus 
Crisis.  The  writer  says : — 

<e  In  every  point  of  view  it  was  an  unparalleled  county  meet 
ing.  Any  fair  estimate  must  put  its  numbers  between  fifteen 
and  twenty  thousand !  ....  It  being  well  known  that  Mr. 
Yallandigham  had  come,  an  immediate  and  general  call  was 
made  for  him,  and  he  was  at  once  introduced  to  the  vast  assem 
bly,  which  saluted  him  with  three  hearty  cheers.  Mr.  Yallan 
dighani  addressed  the  great  multitude  of  people  for  about  two 
hours,  making  a  most  able,  eloquent,  and  truly  patriotic  speech. 
It  was  a  noble  and  glorious  effort  in  behalf  of  Liberty,  Union 
and  the  Constitution,  and  was  listened  to  with  wrapt  attention, 
interrupted  only  by  frequent  enthusiastic  responses  and  applause. 
It  must  have  left  an  ineffaceable  impression  upon  the  minds  of 
all  who  heard  if.  He  showed  and  established  conclusively 
which  was  the  true  Union,  and  which  the  disunion  party,  by 
tracing  the  history  and  proceedings  of  each  from  its  origin  to 
the  present  moment.  The  contrast  between  the  life-long  Union 
ism  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  the  original  and  continuous 
disunionism  of  the  Abolition  party,  wTas  so  glaring  and  true, 
that  an  Abolitionist  with  any  degree  of  conscience  must  have 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  253 

felt  confounded  and  abashed  at  the  recital.  .  .  .  Mr.  V.  spoke 
in  words  of  burning  eloquence  of  the  arbitrary  measures  and 
monarchical  usurpations  of  the  Administration,  the  disgraceful 
surrender  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people  by  the  last 
infamous  Congress,  and  the  conversion  of  the  Government  into 
a  despotism.  No  candid  man,  after  hearing  Mr.Vallandigham, 
can  for  a  moment  doubt  his  sincerity  and  patriotism.  These 
attributes  of  the  man  stand  out  in  bold  prominence,  and  are  so 
palpable  as  not  to  be  drawn  in  question  by  any  honest  man  of 
common  sense. 

"  It  being  apparent  during  the  delivery  of  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham's  speech  that  it  was  quite  impossible  for  even  his 
strong  and  clear  voice  to  reach  the  edges  of  the  crowd,  besides 
which  Main  street  for  several  squares  below  was  blocked  with 
people,  it  was  proposed  to  organise  another  meeting  at  the 
corner  of  Main  and  Vine  streets,  which  was  gladly  accepted. 
A  large  meeting  was  there  convened.  This  second  meeting  being 
found  insufficient  to  accommodate  the  immense  number  of  people, 
a  third  large  meeting  was  organised  farther  down  Main  street, 
in  front  of  the  Franklin  House.  In  the  evening,  about  eight 
o'clock,  still  another  large  meeting,  a  considerable  proportion  of 
which  was  composed  of  ladies,  filled  the  spacious  Court-room. n 

Such,  somewhat  abridged,  are  the  accounts  of  the  great 
meeting  at  Mount  Vernon  on  the  first  day  of  May,  1863. 
These  accounts  were  written  at  the  time,  before  any  arrest  was 
made,  or  suspicion  that  any  would  be  made,  for  acts  done  or 
words  spoken  on  that  memorable  occasion.  And  taking  them 
to  be  true,  as  they  most  unquestionably  are,  what  was  the  spirit, 
what  was  the  character  of  those  who  composed  the  meeting  ? 
They  were  true  patriots,  loving  the  Union,  supporting  the 
Constitution,  obedient  to  the  laws  —  never  for  a  moment  sus 
pecting,  while  they  marched  that  day  in  procession,  or  stood 
before  the  speaker's  stand,  with  the  flag  of  their  country  wav 
ing  over  their  heads,  and  the  fires  of  patriotism  glowing  in 
their  hearts,  that  they  were  guilty  of  any  offence  for  which 


254  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

they  could  be  called  to  account  in  a  land  that  professed  to  be 
free,  and  by  a  party  accustomed  to  boastingly  blazon  on  their 
banners,  "Free  soil,  FREE  SPEECH,  free  men  !  "  And  so  of  the 
speakers  who  addressed  them  — Vallandigham,  Cox,  Pendleton, 
Kinney,  Follet,  Reamy,  and  others ;  so  far  from  being  conscious 
of  any  wrong,  they  felt  that  as  sentinels  on  the  watch-tower  of 
liberty  they  were  performing  a  solemn  duty  in  sounding  the 
alarm  and  warning  the  people  of  approaching  danger,  firmly 
believing  that  "  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty/7  and 
clearly  seeing  that  liberty  was  imperilled  by  constant  encroach 
ments  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  and  military  satraps  under 
him  on  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  people. 

The  day  after  the  meeting  at  Mt.  Vernon  Mr.  Vallandigham 
returned  home,  and  immediately  heard  rumors  of  his  intended 
arrest.  Such  rumors  he  had  often  heard  before.  To  an  arrest 
on  process  from  legal  authority  he  did  not  object ;  nay  more, 
he  would  have  been  pleased  to  appear  before  a  civil  tribunal 
and  answer  to  any  charges  that  might  be  brought  against  him. 
But  a  forcible,  illegal,  military  arrest  he  was  determined  to 
repel,  and  when  on  a  former  occasion  he  had  reason  to  appre 
hend  it,  he  had  made  preparation  to  resist  by  thoroughly 
arming  himself  and  stationing  armed  guards  of  his  friends 
within  his  house  and  without ;  and  for  weeks  at  a  time  he  sat 
up  all  night  or  lay  down  in  his  day-clothes  in  readiness  to 
meet  the  minions  of  despotism,  should  they  attempt  to  violate 
the  sanctity  of  his  dwelling.  In  a  speech  made  on  the  14tli 
of  the  previous  February  in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  he  thus 
refers  to  his  feelings  at  that  period : — 

"  Have  any  of  you  known  that  most  terrible  of  all  sensa 
tions,  haunting  you,  walking  with  you,  resting  with  you  —  the 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  255 

apprehension  of  being  arrested?  Before  God  I  never  have 
been  guilty  of  any  offence  against  the  laws  of  my  country, 
or  the  laws  written  by  a  higher  power  —  except  through  the 
frailties  of  human  nature;  but  I  have  learned  in  my  own 
person  what  of  all  sensations  is  the  most  horrible  and  oppres 
sive  —  the  fear  of  arrest.  I  knew  it  when  night  after  night 
in  my  own  house — which  one  of  the  noblest  of  Englishmen, 
and  which  my  father  told  me,  which  the  Constitution  of  my 
country  told  me,  was  my  castle  —  when  night  after  night, 
from  the  setting  of  the  sun,  when  the  gray  star-light 
gathered  around  that  which  ought  to  have  been  a  peaceful  and 
undisturbed  home,  until  day  dawned,  I  watched  in  pain  for 
every  footfall  upon  the  pavement  and  the  sound  of  every 
carriage  that  rumbled  along  the  street,  lest  some  execrable 
minion  should  dare  to  attempt  to  cross  the  threshold  of  that 
castle.  And  it  was  not  in  Austria  that  that  happened,  not  in 
Russia,  not  in  old  Rome  under  Nero  or  Caligula,  but  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  under  Abraham  Lincoln." 

As  from  day  to  day  the  rumors  to  which  we  have  referred 
became  more  rife,  the  friends  who  in  former  times  had  nobly 
stood  guard  in  and  around  his  dwelling  again  proffered  their 
services,  but  he  declined.  There  had  been  so  many  false 
alarms  that  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  no  attempt 
would  be  made  to  arrest  him  in  his  own  house,  and  conse 
quently  not  only  waived  the  kind  offers  of  his  friends,  but 
also  relaxed  his  own  accustomed  vigilance. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  on  the  evening  of  the 
4th  of  May,  Mr.  Yallandigham  and  his  family,  consisting  at 
that  time  of  his  wife,  son,  his  wife's  sister,  and  a  young  nephew 
of  his  own,  and  two  domestics,  females  both,  retired  to  rest 
at  their  accustomed  hour.  At  half-past  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning  they  were  rudely  awakened  from  slumber  by  a  violent 
knocking  upon  the  front  door.  Arising,  Mr.  Vallandigham, 
who  did  not  immediately  suspect  that  it  was  a  force  coming  to 


256  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLAtfDIGHAM. 

arrest  him,  went  to  the  front  window  of  the  room  over  the 
parlor.  As  he  approached  it  he  heard  the  tramp  of  armed 
men,  the  low  voice  of  command  given  by  officers,  the  rattling 
of  arms,  and  mutterings  and  whispering  of  many  people. 
Looking  out,  lights  were  seen  gleaming  amidst  the  shrubbery 
in  the  yard  below,  and  the  glittering  of  many  bayonets  shone 
bright  from  the  gas-light  near  the  house.  As  he  threw  open 
the  shutters  the  sounds  struck  upon  his  wife's  cars,  and  she 
screamed  with  affright.  He  demanded  what  was  wanted. 
Captain  Hutton,  an  officer  of  General  Burnside's  staff,  who  was 
in  command,  answered  that  he  had  been  sent  by  that  General 
to  arrest  him,  and  that  he  might  as  well  come  down  and  sur 
render.  Mr.  Yallandigham  replied  that  he  would  not ;  that 
he,  Captain  Hutton,  had  no  right  to  arrest  him,  and  that 
General  Burnside  had  no  right  to  issue  an  order  for  his 
arrest.  To  this  a  threat  was  made  that  unless  he  would  come 
down  he  would  be  shot.  He  answered  this  in  a  defiant  man 
ner,  and  then  shouted  for  the  police.  By  this  time  the  whole 
household  was  up ;  his  wife  and  sister-in-law,  both  very  nervous, 
timid  women,  were  weeping,  nearly  crazed  by  terror,  and  beg 
ging  him  to  come  away  from  the  window ;  the  servant  girls 
were  equally  alarmed.  After  repeated  threats  to  shoot,  inter 
mingled  with  entreaties,  the  officer  in  command  ordered  the 
front  door  to  be  forced ;  but  it  was  found  too  strong,  and  a 
door  in  the  rear  was  then  attacked.  The  house  now  shook 
with  the  violent  blows  of  axes  upon  the  door,  and  the  horrid 
clamor  filled  the  hearts  of  the  women  with  an  agony  of  fear. 
At  last  the  door  gave  way,  and  the  rattling  of  ramrods  and 
bayonets,  as  well  as  the  half-suppressed  oaths  of  the  men  as 
they  rushed  into  the  back  parlor,  arose  clearly  and  distinctly 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  257 

in  the  night  air.  Mr.  Yallandigham  still  determined  he  would 
not  surrender  whilst  there  was  any  hope  of  rescue.  He  desired 
to  delay  the  soldiery  until  some  organised  effort  could  be  made 
by  his  friends  outside  to  drive  off  his  assailants.  He  had 
dressed  himself  whilst  the  soldiers  were  bursting  open  the 
door  below ;  and  he  arranged  with  his  nephew,  who  had  served 
in  the  Union  army,  to  open  fire  on  the  soldiers  as  soon  as  they 
should  be  attacked  from  the  outside.  Another  demand  to  sur 
render  was  sternly  refused,  and  the  soldiers  mounted  the  stair 
and  commenced  battering  away  at  the  door  of  the  room  in 
which  he  stood.  He  then  retired  into  another  room  which 
communicated  with  the  one  now  attacked.  In  a  few  moments 
the  second  door  was  broken  in,  but  lo!  the  victim  was  not  yet 
brought  to  bay.  A  short  interval  of  silence  followed,  and  Mr. 
V.  endeavored  to  soothe  the  affrighted  ladies  whilst  he  anxiously  • 
listened  for  the  sound  of  footsteps  coming  to  his  aid ;  nothing, 
however,  but  the  measured  tread  of  the  sentinels  could  be 
heard  on  the  outside.  The  third  door  was  now  attacked,  and 
as  there  was  no  chance  of  successful  resistance,  he  concealed  his 
revolver  and  calmly  awaited  the  entry  of  the  troops.  The 
house  was  full  of  soldiers,  though  the  officer  in  command  had 
not  entered,  and  directly  the  third  door  gave  way  the  soldiers 
broke  into  the  room  where  he  stood,  and  half  a  score  of  mus 
kets  were  pointed  instantly  at  him.  Thereupon  he  said :  "You 
have  now  broken  open  my  house  and  overpowered  me  by 
superior  force,  a*nd  I  am  obliged  to  surrender."  The  muskets 
were  lowered,  and  hastily  though  not  roughly  he  was  torn  from 
the  arms  of  his  devoted  wife  and  weeping  child  and  hurried 
down  stairs.  Leaving  his  wife  stupefied  in  agony  of  grief  and 
alarm,  he  passed  through  the  shattered  panels  of  his  doors  into 
17 


258  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

v 
the  street.     The  bugles  sounded  the  recall,,  and  surrounded  by 

soldiery  he  was  marched  rapidly  to  the  depot,  and  thence  carried 
by  the  special  train  to  Cincinnati,  where  after  daylight  he  was 
taken  to  the  military  prison,  Kemper  Barracks. 

The  arrest  and  taking  away  of  Mr.  Yallandigham  was  made 
with  the  greatest  expedition.  !Not  more  than  thirty  minutes 
elapsed  after  the  arrival  of  the  special  train  from  Cincinnati 
before  the  troops  were  back  to  the  depot  with  the  prisoner,  and 
the  train  immediately  moved  off.  It  was  daylight  in  Dayton 
before  the  news  of  the  arrest  had  become  'generally  known, 
although  fire-bells  were  rung  a  short  time  after  he  was  taken 
away  from  his  house. 

The  indignation  aroused  amongst  the  Democrats  was  fierce. 
Men  with  frowning  brows  and  clenched  fists  were  to  be  seen  all 
over  the  city.  As  the  day  advanced  the  excitement  rapidly 
increased ;  hundreds  of  men  came  in  from  the  country  around  ; 
crowds  began  to  gather.  The  denunciations  of  the  arrest  and 
of  those  concerned  in  it,  became  louder  and  more  violent. 
Those  who  had  been  very  bitter  and  prescriptive  amongst  the 
Republicans  became  alarmed,  and  some  left  the  city  as  quietly 
and  secretly  as  possible.  Towards  evening  the  storm  burst : 
suddenly  the  Journal  office,  the  Republican  organ  of  the  county, 
was  surrounded  by  a  mob  of  frantic  men ;  pistols  and  bowic 
knives  gleamed.  The  office  was  attacked,  its  defenders  fled ; 
it  was  completely  gutted,  everything  in  it  broken  up  and 
destroyed ;  the  torch  was  then  applied,  and  the  sky  was  soon 
illuminated  by  the  red  light  of  blazing  roofs.  It  was  with  the 
utmost  difficulty  that  the  Democratic  leaders  prevented  the 
fiercely  exasperated  crowds  from  attacking  and  hanging  promi 
nent  Republicans  and  from  burning  their  dwelling-houses. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  259 

The  railroads  leading  to  Dayton  were  torn  up ;  the  telegraph 
wires  were  cut.  It  seemed  as  if  a  new  civil  war  was  impend 
ing.  But  the  mob  was  poorly  armed,  had  no  organization  or 
discipline,  and  no  support  from  any  other  portion  of  the  State. 
The  attack  upon  the  liberties  of  the  people  had  been  so  sudden 
and  unexpected  that  no  concert  of  action  existed  even  in  Mont 
gomery  County.  Leading  Democrats  were  wise  enough  to  see 
the  folly  of  any  warlike  demonstration,  that  it  would  only  lead  to 
useless  slaughter,  and  make  bad  worse.  They  exhorted  the  more 
imprudent  to  return  to  their  homes,  and  succeeded  in  persuad 
ing  them  to  do  no  further  acts  endangering  the  peace  of  the 
city ;  and  when  about  ten  o'clock  the  same  night  troops  from 
Cincinnati  and  Columbus  reached  Dayton,  they  met  with  no 
resistance. 

In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Vallandigham,  who  reached  Cincin 
nati  soon  after  daylight,  had  been  taken  immediately  to  the 
military  prison,  Kemper  Barracks.  Here  he  remained  until 
evening,  when  by  order  of  General  Burnside,  who  had  become 
greatly  alarmed  lest  there  should  be  a  popular  outbreak  and 
attempt  to  rescue,  he  was  hurried  across  the  river  to  Newport 
Barracks,  Kentucky,  and  there  locked  up  for  the  night.  The 
next  morning  he  was  taken  back  to  Cincinnati  and  brought 
before  the  military  commission.  The  same  day,  by  Burnside^ 
order,  military  arrests  commenced  in  Dayton.  More  than 
thirty  citizens  were  arrested  and  dragged  down  to  the  military 
prisons  at  Cincinnati,  and  for  six  weeks  every  Democrat  of 
Montgomery  County  was  at  the  mercy  of  an  inebriate  military 
commandant.  Burnside's  own  brutal  conduct  towards  the 
prisoners  was  consistent  with  his  real  character.  He  visited 
them  more  than  once  with  oaths  and  curses,  and  in  one  instance 


260  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

with  blows  vented  his  rage  upon  them.  Mr.  "Vallandigham, 
during  the  trial  before  the  military  commission,  was  placed  in 
room  ~No.  246,  in  the  attic ;  he  was  kept  under  a  strong  guard, 
who  were  ordered,  in  case  of  any  attempt  at  rescue  or  escape, 
to  put  him  to  death.  Similar  orders  had  been  issued  to  his 
captors  previous  to  his  arrest.  A  guard  of  soldiers  with  fixed 
bayonets  and  loaded  muskets  marched  with  Mr.  V.  to  and  from 
the  Commission,  and  a  squad  of  ten  regulars  kept  watch  day 
and  night  over  his  room,  while  sentinels  paced  the  pavements 
below.  Knowing  that  the  object  of  his  arrest  was  to  intimidate 
the  Democracy  of  the  country,  he  took  the  earliest  opportunity 
to  write  an  address  to  the  Democrats  of  Ohio,  which  is  pre 
sented  below.  He  also  desired  the  people  to  know  that  although 
ignorant  of  his  fate,  he  was  not  alarmed  nor  over-awed  by  the 
danger  staring  him  in  the  face,  and  he  wished  to  encourage  his 
friends  to  stand  firm  and  not  bend  to  the  storm.  He  wrote 
this  address  in  Kemper  Barracks  prison,  and  it  was  smuggled 
out  by  a  relative  who  visited  him  whilst  he  was  kept  in  the 
Burnett  House,  and  immediately  published  to  the  world : — 

"MILITARY  PRISON,         ) 
CINCINNATI,  Ohio,  May  5, 1863.  y 

"To  the  Democracy  of  Ohio: — 

"  I  am  here  in  a  military  bastile  for  no  other  offence  than 
my  political  opinions,  and  the  defence  of  them  and  of  the 
rights  of  the  people,  and  of  your  constitutional  liberties. 
Speeches  made  in  the  hearing  of  thousands  of  you  in  de 
nunciation  of  the  usurpations  of  power,  infractions  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws,  and  of  military  despotism,  were  the 
sole  cause  of  my  arrest  and  imprisonment.  I  am  a  Democrat 
— for  Constitution,  for  law,  for  the  Union,  for  liberty  —  this 
is  my  only  i  crime.7  For  no  disobedience  to  the  Constitution  ; 
for  no  violation  of  law;  for  no  word,  sign  or  gesture  of 
sympathy  with  the  men  of  the  South,  who  are  for  disunion 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  261 

and  Southern  independence,  but  in  obedience  to  their  demand 
as  well  as  the  demand  of  Northern  Abolition  disunionists  and 
traitors,  I  am  here  in  bonds  to-day ;  but 

'Time,  at  Last,  sets  all  things  even!' 

Meanwhile,  Democrats  of  Ohio,  of  the  Northwest,  of  the 
United  States,  be  firm,  be  true  to  your  principles,  to  the  Con 
stitution,  to  the  Union,  and  all  will  yet  be  well.  As  for 
myself,  I  adhere  to  every  principle,  and  will  make  good 
through  imprisonment  and  life  itself  every  pledge  and  dec 
laration  which  I  have  ever  made,  uttered  or  maintained  from 
the  beginning.  To  you,  to  the  whole  people,  to  TIME,  I  again 
appeal.  Stand  firm  !  Falter  not  an  instant ! 

"  C.  L.  VALLAKDIGHAM." 


CHAPTER    XII. 

* 

TRIAL     BEFORE     MILITARY     COMMISSION. 

THE  day  after  his  arrest,  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  brought 
before  a  military  commission  for  trial.  The  proceedings  we 
give  in  full : 

"CINCINNATI,  May  6,  1863. 

"  The  Commission  convened  at  ten  o'clock  A.  M. 

"The  Judge  Advocate  read  the  general  order  from  the 
headquarters  of  the  Department  of  the  Ohio,  appointing  the 
following  officers  a  commission  to  try  all  parties  brought 
before  it,  and  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  asked  whether  he  had 
any  objections  to  offer  to  any  member  of  the  court. 

"  The  following  officers  compose  the  court : 

"  Brig.-General  E.  B.  Potter,  President, 

"  Captain  J.  M.  Cutts,  Judge  Advocate. 

"  Colonel  J.  F.  DeCourcy,  Sixteenth  Ohio  Y.  I. 

"  Lieut.-Colonel  E.  K.  Goodrich,  Com.  Sub. 

"  Major  Van  Buren,  A.  D.  C. 

"  Major  Brown,  Tenth  Kentucky  Cavalry. 

"  Major  Fitch,  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth  Ohio  Y.  I. 

"  Captain  Lydig,  A.  D.  C. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  said  he  was  not  acquainted  with  any 
of  the  members  of  the  court,  and  had  no  objection  to  offer  to 
them  individually,  but  he  protested  that  the  commission  had 
no  authority  to  try  him,  he  being  neither  in  the  land  nor  naval 
force  of  the  United  States,  nor  in  the  militia  in  the  actual  ser 
vice  of  the  United  States,  and  was  not  therefore  triable  by  such 
a  court,  but  was  amenable  only  to  the  judicial  courts  of  the 
land. 

"  The  members  of  the  court  were  then  sworn  to  try  his 
case  impartially. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  263 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  then  read  the  following  charge  and 
specification : 


CHARGE. 


"  Publicly  expressing,  in  violation  of  General  Orders  No.  38, 
from  headquarters,  Department  of  the  Ohio,  his  sympathies  for 
those  in  arms  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
declaring  disloyal  sentiments  and  opinions,  with  the  object  and 
purpose  of  weakening  the  power  of  the  Government  in  its 
efforts  to  suppress  an  unlawful  rebellion. 


"  In  this,  that  the  said  Clement  L.  Vallandighara,  a  citizen 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  on  or  about  the  1st  day  of  May,  1863,  at 
Mount  Vernon,  Kiiox  County,  Ohio,  did  publicly  address  a 
large  meeting  of  citizens,  and  did  utter  sentiments  in  words  or 
in  effect  as  follows  :  declaring  the  present  war  'a,  wicked,  cruel 
and  unnecessary  war ; '  '  a  war  not  being  waged  for  the  preser 
vation  of  the  Union ; '  '  a  war  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  out 
liberty  and  erecting  a  despotism ; ' . '  a  war  for  the  freedom  of 
the  blacks  and  the  enslavement  of  the  whites ; ?  stating  ( that 
if  the  Administration  had  so  wished,  the  war  could  have  been 
honorably  terminated  months  ago ; '  that  ( peace  might  have 
been  honorably  obtained  by  listening  to  the  proposed  interme 
diation  of  France ; '  that  '  propositions  by  which  the  Southern 
States  could  be  won  back  and  the  South  be  guaranteed  their 
rights  under  the  Constitution,  had  been  rejected  the  day  before 
the  late  battle  at  Fredericksburg,  by  Lincoln  and  his  minions/ 
meaning  thereby  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  those 
under  him  in  authority.  Charging  that  the  '  Government  of 
the  United  States  were  about  to  appoint  military  marshals  in 
every  district  to  restrain  the  people  of  their  liberties,  to  deprive 
them  of  their  rights  and  privileges/  Characterising  General 
Order  No.  38,  from  headquarters  Department  of  the  Ohio,  as 
'a  base  usurpation  of  arbitrary  authority; '  inviting  his  hearers 
to  resist  the  same  by  saying :  '  The  sooner  the  people  inform 
the  minions  of  usurped  power  that  they  will  not  submit  to  such 
restrictions  upon  their  liberties  the  better ; '  declaring  '  that  he 
was  at  all  times  and  upon  all  occasions  resolved  to  do  what  he 
could  to  defeat  the  attempts  now  being  made  to  build  up  a 
monarchy  upon  the  ruins  of  our  free  government  j '  asserting 


264  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

( that  he  firmly  believed,  as  he  said  six  months  ago,  that  the 
men  in  power  are  attempting  to  establish  a  despotism  in  this 
country  more  cruel  and  more  oppressive  than  ever  existed 
before/ 

"  All  of  which  opinions  and  sentiments  he  well  knew  did 
aid,  comfort  and  encourage  those  in  arms  against  the  Govern 
ment,  and  could  but  induce  in  his  hearers  a  distrust  of  their 
own  Government  and  sympathy  for  those  in  arms  against  it, 
and  a  disposition  to  resist  the  laws  of  the  land. 

"J.  M.  CUTTS, 
"  Captain  Eleventh  Infantry,  Judge  Advocate,  Department  of  Ohio. 

"Mr.  Yallandigham  was  asked  by  the  Judge  Advocate 
what  his  plea  was. 

"Mr.  Yallandigham  refused  to  plead,  and  asked  time  to 
consult  his  counsel,  and  for  process  to  compel  the  attendance  of 
Fernando  Wood,  of  New  York  city,  who  should  be  required  to 
bring  with  him  the  letter  which  he  received  from  Richmond  in 
relation  to  terms  offered  for  the  return  of  Southern  Senators  to 
their  seats  in  Congress,  with  the  letter  of  the  President  declin 
ing  to  entertain  the  proposition. 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  continuing  to  refuse  to  plead  to  the 
charge,  the  President  directed  that  the  plea  of  '  not  guilty  '  be 
entered  on  the  record. 

"  The  Court  then  gave  Mr.  Yallandigham  time  to  consult 
his  counsel,  and  for  that  purpose  ordered  a  recess  to  half-past 
one  o'clock. 

"  The  Court  was  then  cleared  for  deliberation,  as  to  whether 
the  clelay  asked  for  by  Mr.  Yallandigham  should  be  granted, 
and  remained  closed  until  near  noon. 

"  The  Court  again  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  and  the 
doors  were  opened. 

"  The  President  asked  Mr.  Yallandigham  whether  he  de 
sired  to  appear  with  counsel. 

"Mr.  Yallandigham  said  he  did  not.  His  counsel,  George 
E.  Pugh,  George  H.  Pendleton,  and  Alexander  Ferguson,  re 
mained  in  the  adjoining  room. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  announced  that  the  case  would  be 
proceeded  with,  and  called  the  first  witness  for  the  prosecution. 

"  Captain  H.  R.  Hill,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth 
Ohio  Yolunteers,  was  sworn. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  .265 

"  Question  by  Judge  Advocate. —  Were  you  present  at  a  meet 
ing  of  citizens  at  Mount  Vernon  on  May  1,  1863? 

"  Answer. —  I  was. 

"  Q. —  Did  you  hear  accused  address  that  meeting  ? 

"A.—  I  did. 

"  Q. — What  position  did  you  occupy  at  the  meeting,  and 
were  you  near  enough  to  hear  all  he  said? 

"A. —  I  was  leaning  against  the  end  of  the  platform  on, 
which  he  was  speaking ;  was  about  six  feet  from  him ;  I  re 
mained  in  this  position  during  the  whole  time  he  was  speaking. 

"  By  Judge  Advocate. —  State  what  remarks  he  made  in  re 
lation  to  the  war ;  what  he  said  about  the  President  of  the 
United  States  and  the  orders  of  military  commanders. 

"  Witness. —  In  order  that  I  may  bring  in  events  as  they 
were  referred  to  by  the  speaker,  I  ask  permission  of  the  court 
to  refresh  my  memory  from  the  notes  which  I  took  at  the  time. 

"President. — You  can  read  from  your  notes. 

"Witness.-^ The  speaker  commenced  by  referring  to  the 
canopy  under  which  he  was  speaking  —  the  stand  having  been 
decorated  with  an  American  flag  —  the  flag  under  the  Consti 
tution. 

"Judge  Advocate. — You  need  not  give  his  introductory  re 
marks.  Confine  yourself  to  what  he  said  about  the  war. 

"  Witness. — After  finishing  his  exordium  he  spoke  of  the 
designs  of  those  in  power  being  to  erect  a  despotism.  That  it 
was  not  their  intention  to  effect  a  restoration  of  the  Union. 
That  previous  to  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  an  attempt  was 
made  to  stay  this  wicked,  cruel  and  unnecessary  war.  That 
the  war  could  have  been  ended  in  February  last.  That  a  day 
or  two  before  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  a  proposition  had 
been  made  for  the  re-admission  of  Southern  Senators  into  the 
United  States  Congress,  and  that  the  refusal  was  still  in  exist 
ence  over  the  President's  own  signature,  which  would  be  made 
public  as  soon  as  the  ban  of  secrecy  imposed  by  the  President 
was  removed.  That  the  Union  could  have  been  saved  if  the 
plan  proposed  by  the  speaker  had  been  adopted;  that  the 
Union  could  have  been  saved  upon  the  basis  of  reconstruction, 
but  that  it  would  have  ended  in  the  exile  or  death  of  those 
who  advocated  a  continuance  of  the  war.  He  then  referred  to 
Forney,  who  was  a  well-known  correspondent  of  the  Phila 
delphia  Press  (and  who  had  no  right  to  speak  for  any  but 


266  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

those  who  were  connected  with  the  Administration),  who  had 
said  that  some  of  our  public  men,  rather  than  bring  back  some 
of  the  seceded  States,  would  submit  to  a  permanent  separation 
of  the  Union.  He  stated  that  France,  a  nation  that  had  always 
shown  herself  to  be  a  friend  of  our  Government,  had  proposed 
to  act  as  a  mediator;  but  that  her  proposition,  which,  if 
accepted,  might  have  brought  about  an  honorable  peace,  was 
insolently  rejected. 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  here  corrected  the  witness.  TJie  word 
he  used  was  i  instantly/  not  '  insolently/ 

"  Witness. —  I  understood  the  word  he  used  to  have  been 
'  insolently/  That  the  people  had  been  deceived ;  that  20,000 
lives  had  been  lost  at  the  battle  at  Fredericksburg  that  might 
have  been  saved.  In  speaking  of  the  objects  of  the  war,  he 
said  it  was  a  war  for  the  liberation  of  the  blacks  and  the 
enslavement  of  the  whites.  We  had  been  told  it  would  be 
terminated  in  three  months ;  then  in  nine  months,  and  again 
in  a  year.  That  the  war  was  still  in  progress,  and  that  there 
was  no  prospect  of  its  being,  ended.  That  Richmond  was 
theirs;  that  Charleston  and  Vicksburg  were  theirs;  that  the 
Mississippi  was  not  opened,  and  would  not  be  so  long  as  there 
was  cotton  on  its  banks  to  be  stolen,  or  so  long  as  there  were 
any  contractors  or  officers  to  enrich.  That  a  Southern  paper 
had  denounced  him  and  Cox  and  the  Peace  Democrats  as 
having  done  more  to  prevent  the  establishing  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy  than  ten  thousand  soldiers  could  do.  That  they 
proposed  to  operate  through  the  masses  of  the  people  in  both 
sections  who  were  in  favor  of  the  Union.  That  it  was  the 
purpose  or  design  of  the  Administration  to  suppress  or  prevent 
such  meetings  as  the  one  he  was  addressing.  That  military 
marshals  were  about  to  be  appointed  in  every  district,  who 
would  act  for  the  purpose  of  restricting  the  liberties  of  the 
people;  but  that  he  was  a  freeman.  That  he  did  not  ask 
David  Tod,  or  Abraham  Lincoln,  or  Ambrose  E.  Burnside  for 
his  right  to  speak  as  he  had  done  and  was  doing.  That  his 
authority  for  so  doing  was  higher  than  General  Order  ]STo.  38 
—  it  was  General  Order  No.  1 — the  Constitution.  That 
General  Order  No.  38  was  a  base  usurpation  of  arbitrary 
power;  that  he  had  the  most  supreme  contempt  for  such 
power.  He  despised  it  and  spat  upon  it.  He  trampled  it 
under  his  feet.  That  only  a  few  days  before,  a  man  had  been 


LIFE    OP    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM,  267 

dragged  from  his  home  in  Butler  County  by  an  outrageous 
usurpation  of  power  and  tried  for  an  offence  not  known  to  our 
laws  by  a  self-constituted  court-martial  —  tried  without  a  jury, 
which  is  guaranteed  to  every  one ;  that  he  had  been  fined  and 
imprisoned.  That  two  men  were  brought  over  from  Kentucky 
and  tried,  contrary  to  express  lawrs  for  the  trial  of  treason,  and 
were  now  under  the  sentence  of  death.  That  an  order  had 
just  been  issued  in  Indiana,  denying  to  persons  the  right  to 
canvass  or  discuss  military  policy,  and  that  if  it  was  sub 
mitted  to  it  would  be  followed  up  by  a  similar  order  in  Ohio. 
That  he  was  resolved  never  to  submit  to  an  order  of  a  military 
dictator,  prohibiting  the  free  discussion  of  either  civil  or  mili 
tary  authority.  The  sooner  that  the  people  informed  the 
minions  of  this  usurped  power  that  they  would  not  submit  to 
such  restrictions  upon  their  liberties,  and  they  would  not  cringe 
and  cower  before  such  authority,  the  better.  Let  them  not  be 
deluded  by  the  image  of  liberty  when  the  spirit  is  gone.  He 
proclaimed  the  right  to  criticise  the  acts  of  our  military  ser 
vants  in  power.  That  there  never  was  a  tyrant  in  any  age 
who  oppressed  the  people  further  than  he  thought  they  would 
submit  to  endure.  That  in  the  clays  of  Democratic  authority 
Tom  Corwin  had  in  face  of  Congress  hoped  that  our  brave 
volunteers  in  Mexico  ( might  be  welcomed  with  bloody  hands 
to  hospitable  graves/  but  that  he  had  not  been  interfered  with. 
It  was  never  before  thought  necessary  to  appoint  a  captain  of 
cavalry  as  Provost  Marshal,  as  was  now  the  case  in  Indiana 
polis,  or  military  dictators  as  were  now  exercising  authority  in 
Cincinnati  and  Columbus.  That  a  law  had  recently  been 
enacted  in  Ohio,  as  well  as  in  some  other  States,  regulating  the 
manner  in  which  soldiers  should  vote ;  that  the  officers  have  to 
be  judges  of  the  election. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  objected  to  this  part  of  the  testimony 
as  irrelevant. 

"Mr.  Yallandigham  desired  the  court  to  permit  the  witness 
to  go  on  with  his  testimony. 

"  Witness. — The  speaker  closed  by  warning  the  people  not 
to  be  deceived.  That  an  attempt  would  shortly  be  made  to 
enforce  the  conscription1  law,  and  to  remember  that  the  war  was 
not  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  but  that  it  was  a  wicked 
Abolition  war,  and  that  if  those  in  authority  were  allowed  to 
accomplish  their  purposes,  the  people  would  be  deprived  of 


268  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

their  liberties,  and  a  monarchy  established ;  but  as  for  him  lie 
was  resolved  that  he  would  never  be  a  priest,  to  minister  at  the 
altar  on  which  his  country  was  being  sacrificed. 

"  Question  by  Judge  Advocate. — What  other  flags  or  em 
blems  were  used  in  decorating  the  stage  ? 

"A. —  There  were  banners  made  of  frame  work,  and 
covered  with  canvas,  which  were  decorated  with  butternuts  and 
bore  inscriptions.  One  banner,  which  was  carried  at  the  head 
of  a  delegation  which  came  in  from  a  town  in  the  country, 
bore  the  inscription,  'The  copperheads  are  coming.' 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — The  South  never  carried  copper 
cjents. 

"  Judge  Advocate. —  But  butternuts  are  a  Southern  emblem. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  shook  his  head,  and  said  they  were 
not. 

"  Question  by  Judge  Advocate. — Did  you  see  any  persons 
having  emblems  on  their  persons  ? 

"  A. —  Yes  •  I  saw  hundreds  of  persons  wearing  butternut 
and  copperhead  badges. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. —  The  copper  badges  were  simply  the 
head  cut  out  of  the  common  cent  coins,  with  pins  attached. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. —  Did  you  notice  what  inscription 
these  copperhead  badges  bore? 

"  A. — No  ;  I  did  not  look  at  them. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — The  inscription  on  them  was  '  Lib 
erty/ 

"  Question  by  Judge  Advocate. — Did  you  hear  any  cheers  in 
the  crowd  for  Jeff.  Davis  ? 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. —  That  is  not  in  the  specification. 

"  A. —  I  did  not  hear  cheers  for  Jeff.  Davis,  but  I  heard  a 
shout  in  the  crowd  that  '  Jeff.  Davis  was  a  gentleman,  and  that 
was  more  than  the  President  was/ 

"  CKOSS-EXAMINED   BY   MB.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  Q. — Did  not  I  refer  in  my  speech  to  the  Crittenden  Com 
promise  propositions,  and  condemn  their  rejection  ? 

"  As  the  witness  was  about  answering,  the  Judge  Advocate 
objected  to  the  question,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  bringing  in 
matter  foreign  to  the  charge  and  specification.  The  court  al 
lowed  the  question  to  be  answered. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  269 

"  A. —  When  endeavoring  to  show  that  the  party  in  power 
had  not  the  restoration  of  the  Union  in  view  in  conducting  the 
war,  and  that  that  was  not  their  object,  he  stated  a  number  of 
means  by  which  that  could  have  been  accomplished ;  and  from 
the  fact  that  none  had  been  adopted,  he  considered  it  proof  that 
the  restoration  of  the  Union  was  not  the  object  for  which  the 
war  was  being  waged. 

"  Q. —  Did  I  not  quote  Judge  Douglass's  declaration  that 
the  rejection  — 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  desire  to  prove  that  in  my  speech  I 
stated  that  Mr.  Douglass  had  said  that  the  responsibility  for  the 
rejection  of  the  Crittenden  proposition  was  with  the  Republican 
party. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  stated  that  his  objection  was  that  the 
question  was  bringing  in  political  opinions  and  discussions  with 
which  the  court  had  nothing  to  do. 

"The  room  was  cleared  for  deliberation  and  the  doors  closed. 

"  After  an  interval  of  fifteen  minutes  the  doors  were  again 
opened,  and  then  the  Judge  Advocate  announced  that  the  ques 
tion  would  not  be  admitted. 

"§. — When  speaking  in  connection  with  Forney's  Press, 
did  I  not  say  that  if  other  Democrats  in  Washington  and  myself 
had  not  refused  all  idea  and  suggestions  of  some  prominent 
men  of  the  party  in  power  to  make  peace  on  terms  of  disunion, 
that  I  believe  the  war  would  have  been  ended  in  February  ? 

"A. — When  speaking  of  the  propositions  before  referred  to, 
and  that  this  war  was  not  being  carried  on  for  the  restoration 
of  the  Union,  he  stated  that  if  the  Democracy  in  Washington 
had  united  in  a  plan  for  the  permanent  separation  of  the  Union, 
it  would  have  been  accomplished  in  February. 

"Q. — Did  I  not  refer  expressly  to  myself  in  that  connection, 
and  say  that  I  had  refused  and  always  would  refuse  to  agree 
to  a  separation  of  the  States  —  in  other  words,  on  peace  terms 
of  disunion  ? 

"A. — Well,  that  idea  is  not  exactly  as  it  was  expressed. 
He  stated  something  to  that  effect.  That  he  wished  to  have  a 
voice  in  the  manner  in  which  the  Union  was  to  be  reconstructed, 
and  that  our  Southern  brethren  should  also  have  a  voice  in  the 
matter. 

"  Q. — Referring  to  the  Richmond  Enquirer  article,  did  I  not 
say  that  it,  Jeff.  Davis's  organ,  had  called  Dictator  Lincoln  to 


270  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

lock  up  Mr.  Cox,  Senator  Richardson,  and  myself  in  one  of 
his  military  prisons,  because  of  our  doing  so  much  against 
Southern  recognition  and  independence  ? 
"A. — That  is  substantially  what  he  said. 
"§.-— Referring  to  General  Order  No.  38,  did  I  not  say  that 
in  so  far  as  it  undertook  to  subject  citizens  not  in  the  land  or 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  or  militia  of  the  United 
States  in  actual  service,  to  trial  by  court-martial  or  military 
commission,  I  believed  it  to  be  unconstitutional  and  a  usurpa 
tion  of  arbitrary  power  ? 

"A. —  Yes,  except  in  the  words  e  in  so  far/ 

"  Q. — Referring  to  two  citizens  of  Kentucky  tried  by  mil 
itary  court  in  Cincinnati,  did  I  not  say  that  what  they  were 
charged  with  was  actual  treason,  punishable  by  death,  and  that 
if  guilty,  the  penalty  by  statute  was  hanging,  and  they  ought 
to  be  hung,  after  being  tried  by  a  judicial  court  and  a  jury;  in 
stead  of  which  they  had  been  tried  by  a  military  court,  as  I 
understood,  and  sentenced  to  fine  and  imprisonment — one  of 
them  §300  fine  ? 

"A. —  I  don't  think  he  put  those  e  ifs  '  in.  I  think  he  said 
they  were  improperly  tried,  and  by  a  usurpation  of  power. 

"  Mr.  Vallandlgliam. —  Strike  out  the  '  ifs'  then. 

"  Witness. — That  was  substantially  what  he  said. 

"  Q. — Did  I  not  also  say  in  that  connection  that  the  rebel 
officer  who  was  tried  as  a  spy  by  the  military  court  at  Cincin 
nati  was  legally  and  properly  tried,  according  to  the  rules  and 
articles;  tried  and  convicted — that  that  was  a  clear  case, 
where  the  Court  had  jurisdiction? 

"A. —  It  is  my  recollection  that  he  denounced  the  Court  as 
an  unlawful  tribunal,  and  did  not  make  the  distinction. 

"  Question  by  Judge  Advocate. —  Did  he  refer  to  the  case  of 
Campbell,  the  rebel  spy,  and  make  any  distinction  ? 

"A. —  No.  He  denounced  the  Court  first  and  then  gave 
the  instances,  which  I  have  already  related  in  my  direct  testi 
mony. 

"  Question  by  Mr.  Vallandlgliam. —  Do  you  not  remember 
my  speaking  of  the  Campbell  case,  and  saying  that  he  was 
properly  tried  ? 

"A. — He  may,  but  I  do  not  recollect  it.  He  probably  did 
refer  to  the  Campbell  case. 

"  Q. —  May  I  not  have  made  the  distinction  and  you  not 
have  heard  it  ? 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  271 

"The  Judge  Advocate  said  lie  would  admit  that  the  accused 
did  draw  the  distinction  between  the  cases,  and  that  he  ad 
mitted  the  right  of  the  Court  to  try  the  spy.  In  other  words, 
that  he  condemned  the  trial  of  the  Butler  County  man,  and 
approved  the  case  of  the  spy  who  was  tried  and  convicted. 

"§• —  Did  I  not  distinctly  in  the  conclusion  of  the  speech 
enjoin  upon  the  people  to  stand  by  the  Union  at  all  events, 
and  that  if  war  failed,  not  to  give  the  Union  up,  but  to  try  by 
peaceable  means,  by  compromise,  to  restore  it  as  our  fathers 
made  it ;  and  that  though  others  might  consent  or  be  forced 
to  consent,  I  would  not  myself  be  one  of  those  who  would 
take  any  part  in  agreeing  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union? 

"A. — Yes.  He  said  that  he  and  the  peace  men  were  the 
only  ones  who  wished  the  restoration,  of  the  Union. 

"Q. —  Did  not  one  of  the  banners  you  refer  to  as  decorated 
with  butternuts  bear  the  inscription,  'The  Constitution  as  it 
is,  and  the  Union  as  it  was '  ? 

(A. —  The  banners  were  numerous.  One  of  them,  I  be 
lieve,  did  bear  that  inscription. 

''  Q. —  Do  you  mean  to  be  understood  to  say  that  he  heard 
the  reference  to  Jeif.  Davis  in  the  crowd,  or  gave  any  assent  to 
it  whatever  ? 

"A. —  I  cannot  say  that  he  did.  Did  not  see  or  hear  him 
give  any  assent  to  it.  There  were  many  other  remarks  of  that 
character  uttered. 

"Q — What  was  the  size  of  the  crowd  assembled  there? 

"A. —  I  do  not  know  the  proper  estimate,  but  the  crowd 
was  very  large. 

"The  Court  then  adjourned  to  Thursday  morning  at  ten 
o'clock. 

"SECOND  DAY 

"The  Court  met  at  ten  o'clock  A.  M.  Present  as  before. 
Yesterday's  proceedings  and  testimony  were  read  and  approved, 
and  were  signed  by  the  President. 

"  Captain  Hill  was  again  called  to  the  stand,  and  his  cross- 
examination  was  resumed  by  Mr.  Vallandigham. 

"Question  by  Mr.  Vallandigham. —  In  speaking  of  the 
character  of  the  war,  did  I  not  expressly  say,  'As  Mr.  Lincoln 
in  his  proclamation  of  July  1,  1862,  said,  "this  unnecessary  and 
injurious  war7'?' 


272  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM, 

"Answer. —  I  don't  recollect  that  lie  did.  Tke  language 
made  use  of  I  understood  to  be  his  own. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. —  Of  course  I  could  not  put  the  quo 
tation  marks  in  my  speech. 

"Q. — Again,  in  speaking  of  the  character  of  the  war,  did  I 
not  expressly  give  as  proof,  the  President's  proclamation  of 
Sept.  22,  1862,  and  Jan.  1,  1863,  as  declaring  the  emancipa 
tion  of  the  slaves  in  the  seceded  States,  and  as  proof  that  the 
war  was  now  being  waged  for  that  purpose  ? 

"  The  witness  was  about  to  answer  when  the  Judge  Advo 
cate  checked  him.  He  said  it  was  bringing  up  matters  which 
were  foreign  to  the  charge  and  specification,  and  that  the  Court 
was  not  called  upon  to  pass  upon  the  merits  of  the  President's 
proclamation.  He  then  desired  that  the  Court  should  be 
closed  for  deliberation. 

"  Mr.  VallandigJiam. — I  desire  to  show  this  fact,  in  explan 
ation  of  the  purpose  and  object  of  my  declaration  as  to  the 
present  character  of  the  war,  and  as  my  authority  for  the 
statement ;  for  I  assume  that  the  President  is  not  disloyal. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  insisted  that  the  question  required 
the  Court  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  merits  of  the  President's 
proclamation,  and  not  whether  lie  (Mr.  Vallandigham)  was 
expressing  his  own  sentiments  or  those  of  the  President. 

"  After  the  Commission  had  deliberated,  the  Judge  Advo 
cate  said  the  question  would  not  be  admitted. 

"  Q. — Did  you  continue  in  the  same  place  during  the 
delivery  of  the  whole  speech  ! 

"  A.— I  did. 

/'  §• — Were  your  notes  taken  at  the  time,  or  reduced  to 
writing  after  the  speech  was  delivered  ? 

"  A.— They  were  taken  at  the  time,  just  as  they  fell  from 
the  speaker's  lips. 

"  §. — Were  you  not  in  citizen's  clothes,  and  how  came  you 
to  be  at  Mount  Vernon  that  day?  Did  you  go  to  Mount 
Vernon  for  the  purpose  of  taking  notes  and  reporting  the 
speecli  ? 

"  Judge  Advocate. — I  object  to  this  question  on  the  ground 
of  its  immateriality. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  insisted  on  the  question  on  the  ground 
that  it  explained  the  temper  and  spirit  of  the  witness,  and  his 
prejudices,  and  as  showing  that  the  notes  were  taken  with  ref- 


LIFE    OF -CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  273 

erence  to  the  arrest  and  prosecution  before  this  Commission, 
he  being  a  captain  in  the  service,  and  his  regiment  in  Cin 
cinnati. 

"  The  question  was  objected  to  by  the  Judge  Advocate,  and 
the  Court  was  cleared  for  deliberation. 

"  On  opening  the  doors  again  the  Judge  Advocate  answered 
that  the  question  would  be  allowed. 

"A. — I  was  in  citizen's  clothes,  and  went  for  the  purpose  of 
listening  to  any  speeches  that  might  be  made  that  day.  I  had 
no  orders  to  take  notes. 

"Q. — Did  you  take  notes  of  any  other  speech? 

"A. — I  commenced  taking  notes  of  Mr.  Cox's  speech,  but 
considered  it  harmless,  and  after  a  short  time  stopped. 

"  Q. — Were  you  not  expressly  sent  for  the  purpose  of  listen 
ing  to  my  speech  on  that  occasion? 

"A. — I  was  not,  any  more  than  to  the  others. 

"  Q. — By  whom  were  you  sent  ? 

"A. — By  Captain  Andrew  C.  Kemper,  Assistant  Adjutant 
General  of  the  military  command  of  this  city. 

"  Q. — Did  you  make  a  report  to  him  upon  your  return  ? 

"A. — I  didn't  report  to  Captain  Kemper,  but  to  Colonel 
Eastman,  and  was  from  there  sent  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
Department  of  the  Ohio. 

"  This  closed  the  testimony  of  Captain  Hill  on  both  the 
direct  and  cross-examination. 

"  Captain  John  A.  Means,  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth 
Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  was  sworn. 


"  Question  by  the  Judge  Advocate. — What  is  your  rank  and 
regiment  ? 

"A. — Captain  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth  O.  Y.  I. 

"  Q' — Were  you  present  at  the  meeting  of  citizens  at  Mount 
Vernon,  Ohio,  on  Friday,  May  1,  1863? 

"A.— I  was. 

"Q. — Did  you  hear  the  accused  address  that  meeting? 

"A. — I  did.  I  stood  most  of  the  time  about  ten  feet  imme 
diately  in  front  of  the  stand  and  heard  the  whole  of  the  speech. 
He  said  that  the  war  was  not  carried  on  for  the  preservation 
of.  the  Union ;  that  it  might  have  been  stopped  and  peace 
restored  some  time  ago  and  the  Union  saved,  if  the  plan  which 

18 


274  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

had  been  submitted  had  been  accepted  by  the  Government  the 
day  before  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg. 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  objected  to  anything  on  this  last  point 
on  the  ground  that  he  had  applied  for  a  subpoena  for  Fernando 
Wood,  of  New  York,  to  bring  with  him  the  plan  proposed,  and 
had  been  refused. 

. "  The  Judge  Advocate  replied  that  this  point  might  be 
waived,  and  he  would  strike  from  the  specifications  what  related 
to  the  proposed  plan  of  restoring  the  Union. 

"  The  witness  continued :  That  if  the  plan  had  been  adopted, 
peace  would  have  been  restored,  the  Union  saved  by  reconstruc 
tion,  the  North  won  back  and  guaranteed  in  her  rights.  That 
our  armies  didn't  meet  with  success ;  that  Richmond  was  not 
taken,  Charleston,  nor  Vicksburg ;  that  the  Mississippi  was  not 
open,  and  would  not  be  as  long  as  there  was  cotton  to  sell  or  con 
tractors  to  reward.  He  spoke  in  regard  to  the  rebuke  of  the 
Administration  at  the  last  fall  election ;  that  no  more  volunteers 
could  be  had;  that  the  Administration  had  to  resort  to  the 
French  conscription  act ;  that  he  would  not  counsel  resistance 
to  the  military  or  civil  law,  for  that  was  not  needed.  That  a 
people  were  unworthy  to  be  freemen  who  would  submit  to  such 
encroachments  on  their  liberties. 

"  Mr.  Vattandigham. — What  was  I  referring  to  when  I 
made  the  remark  you  say  I  did  ? 

"  A. — He  was  speaking  of  the  conscription  act.  He  said 
he  believed  the  Administration  was  attempting  to  erect  a  des 
potism  ;  that  in  less  than  one  month  Lincoln  had  plunged  the 
country  into  this  cruel,  bloody,  and  unnecessary  war. 

"  Q. — Can  you  recall  anything  he  said  in  relation  to  Gen 
eral  Order  No.  38  ? 

"  A. — He  said  the  General  Order  No.  38  was  a  usurpation 
of  power  ;  that  he  despised  it,  spat  upon  it,  trampled  it  under 
his  feet ;  that  he,  for  one,  would  not  regard  it.  He  styled  the 
Administration  officers,  and  officers  of  the  army,  as  minions  of 
the  Administration.  He  said  he  did  not  ask  General  Ambrose 
Burnside  whether  he  might  speak  there  or  not ;  that  he  was  a 
freeman,  and  spoke  when  and  where  he  pleased. 

"  Q. — Do  you  remember  anything  he  said  with  reference  to 
the  course  he  advised  the  people  to  pursue  ? 

"  A. — He  said  these  proclamations  and  military  orders  were 
intended  to  intimidate  the  people,  and  prevent  them  from 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  275 

mingling  together  as  they  were  doing  that  day ;  that  he  claimed 
the  right  to  discuss  and  criticise  the  actions  of  the  civil  and 
military  officers  of  the  Government. 

"  Q. —  Did  he  advise  the  people  to  take  any  steps  ? 

"  A. —  He  advised  them,  at  the  close  of  his  speech,  to  come 
up  together  at  the  ballot-box,  and  hurl  the  tyrant  from  his 
throne.  He  styled  the  President  at  another  time  as  'King 
Lincoln.' 


"  Q. — By  Mr.  Vallandigham :  Did  you  take  any  notes 
during  the  delivery  of  the  speech,  or  are  you  testifying  from 
memory  ? 

"  A. — I  took  no  minutes  during  the  delivery  of  the  speech; 
but  after  Mr.  Pendleton  began  speaking  I  went  to  the  .hotel, 
perhaps  an  hour  and  a  half  afterwards,  and  wrote  some 
minutes  of  the  speech. 

"  Q. — You  speak  of  my  saying  that  'the  North  might 
have  been  won  back ; '  was  it  not  the  South  might  have  been 
won  back? 

"A. — No;  I  noticed  that  particularly,  and  it  struck  me 
very  forcibly. 

"  [Mr.  VaUandigham. — If  I  said  it,  it  must  have  been  a  slip 
of  the  tongue.] 

"  Q. — You  say  that  I  said  I  would  not  counsel  resistance 
to  military  or  civil  law.  Did  I  not  expressly  counsel  the 
people  to  obey  the  Constitution  and  all  law,  and  to  pay  proper 
respect  to  men  in  authority,  and  to  maintain  their  political 
rights  through  the  ballot-box,  and  redress  personal  wrongs 
through  the  judicial  tribunals  of  the  country,  and  in  that  way 
to  rebuke  and  put  down  the  Administration  and  all  usurpa 
tions  of  power? 

"A. — Not  in  that  connection.  He  said,  at  the  last  of  his 
speech,  to  come  up  to  the  ballot-box  and  hurl  the  tyrant  from 
his  throne. 

"  Q. — Did  he  not  counsel  them  to  submit  to  all  laws? 

"A. — No,  Sir;  I  didn't  understand  him  to  counsel  the 
people  to  submit  to  the  authorities  at  all  times.  I  can't  re 
member  that  he  used  the  language  of  the  question,  or  the  sub 
stance  of  it  as  stated. 

"  Q.—  Did  I  not  say  that  my  authority  to  speak  to  the 


276  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

people  in  public  assemblages,  on  all  public  questions,  was  not 
derived  from  General  Order  No.  38,  but  General  Order  No. 
1,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  General  Washington 
commanding  ? 

"  A. — I  understood  him  to  say  that  his  authority  to  speak 
to  the  people  was  higher  than  General  Order  No.  38  of  that 
mobbing  despot,  General  Burnside ;  it  was  Order  No.  1,  signed 
by  George  Washington. 

"  Q. — Were  not  the  three  names  of  Tod,  Lincoln,  and  Burn- 
side  used  together,  and  that  I  didn't  ask  their  consent  to  speak  ? 

"  A. — At  another  time  he  used  these  words. 

"  Q. — Were  not  the  remarks  you  say  I  made  about  des 
pising,  spitting  upon,  and  trampling  under  foot,  expressly 
applied  in  reference  to  arbitrary  power  generally ;  and  did  I 
not  in  that  connection  refer  to  General  Order  No.  9,  in  Indiana, 
signed  by  General  Haskall,"  deny  ing  the  right  to  criticise  the 
war  policy  of  the  Administration  ? 

"  A. — The  remarks  in  regard  to  despising,  spitting  upon, 
trampling  under  foot,  were  made  in  direct  reference  to  Order 
No.  38.  He  some  time  afterwards,  in  speaking  of  the  Admin 
istration,  said  that  an  order  had  been  issued  in  Indiana  denying 
the  people  the  right  to  criticise  the  military  policy  of  the 
Administration,  and  if  submitted  to  it  would  be  followed  by 
civil  war  in  Ohio. 

"Q. — Do  you  undertake  to  give  any  connected  or  metho 
dical  statement  of  the  speech  on  that  occasion  ? 

"Judge  Advocate. — The  Court  can  judge  as  to  that  point; 
but  he  may  answer. 

"A. — I  do  not  pretend  to  give  the  speech  commencing  with 
the  first  and  giving  it  just  as  he  spoke  it. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  then  asked  the  same  questions  as  he 
asked  the  former  witness,  with  reference  to  the  way  in  which 
he  went  to  the  meeting,  and  in  addition,  whether  he  went  there 
to  report  the  speech  for  the  purpose  of  a  prosecution  under 
General  Order  No.  38. 

"A.— I  did  not. 

"  Q. — Were  any  reasons  given  you  why  you  should  go  there 
to  report  the  speech  ? 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  objected  to  such  questions,  for  the 
reason  that  they  were  evidently  intended  for  some  other  pur 
pose  than  to  subserve  the  ends  of  justice  in  the  trial. 


i-r 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  27 

"  Q- — I  will  put  the  question  in  this  way,  then :  "Was  any 
object  stated  to  you,  and  if  so,  what  ? 

"A. — There  was  no  object  stated. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  here  rested  his  evidence. 

"  Mr. -Vallandigham  asked  a  recess  of  fifteen  minutes,  for 
the  purpose  of  consultation  with  his  lawyers,  at  the  close  of 
which  he  proceeded  with  the  testimony  on  his  behalf. 


"  Q. — By  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Were  you  present  at  the 
public  meeting  in  Mount  Vernon  on  Friday,  May  1,  1863? 

"A. — I  was  present  as  one  of  the  speakers;  I  heard  the 
whole  speech ;  I  stood  on  the  platform  near  him,  so  that  I 
could  not  fail  to  hear  all  that  he  said ;  I  had  not  heard  him 
speak  since  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  and,  as  I  came  in 
from  the  West,  I  did  not  know  he  was  there ;  I  took  especial 
interest  in  listening  to  his  speech  throughout;  and  having  to 
follow  him,  I  naturally  noticed  the  topics  which  he  discussed. 

"  Q. —  Did  you  hear  his  allusions  to  General  Burnside, 
and,  if  so,  what  were  they  ? 

ff  A. — The  only  allusion  that  he  made  to  the  General  was. 
I  think,  in  the  beginning  of  his  speech,  in  which  he  said  that 
lie  was  not  there  by  the  favor  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  David 
Tod,  or  General  Ambrose  E.  Burnside. 

"  Q. — Was  any  epithet  applied  to  him  during  the  speech  ? 

"A. — No,  Sir.  If  there  had  been,  I  should  have  noticed 
it,  because  General  Burnside  was  an  old  personal  friend  of 
mine.  I  should  have  remembered  any  odious  epithet  applied 
to  him. 

"  Q. — Did  you  hear  the  reference  to  General  Order  38,  and 
if  so,  what  were  the  words  ? 

"A. — The  only  reference  that  was  made  to  that  order  was 
something  to  this  effect:  that  he  didn't  recognise  —  I  don't 
know  that  I  can  quote  the  language  —  Order  No.  38  as  su 
perior  to  Order  No.  1,  the  Constitution,  from  George  Wash 
ington,  commanding  ;  I  don't  know  as  this  is  the  language ;  I 
thought  it  a  very  handsome  point  at  the  time. 

."  Q. — Were  any  violent  epithets,  such  as  '  spit  upon/ 
'  trample  under  foot/  and  the  like,  used  at  any  time  in  the 
speech  in  reference  to  that  Order  38. 


278  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"A. — I  can't  recollect  any  denunciatory  epithets  applied  to 
that  order.  If  there  was  any  criticism  made  upon  it,  it  was 
mentioned  above,  in  the  remark  about  the  Constitution.  Mr. 
Vallandigham  discussed  these  matters  very  briefly.  He  took 
up  most  of  his  time  on  another  point,  in  connection  with  the 
question  of  closing  the  war  by  separation.  He  charged  that 
the  men  in  authority  were  willing  to  make  a  peace  by  separa 
tion.  He  exhausted  some  time  in  reading  proofs  from  Mont 
gomery  Blair,  and  from  Forney;  and  also  stated  that  there 
were  private  proofs  yet  to  be  developed,  and  which  time  would 
disclose,  proving  his  statement.  He  bitterly  denounced  any 
attempt  to  make  peace  by  a  separation  of  the  States. 

"§. — Do  you  remember  to  what,  if  at  all,  in  connection 
with  future  usurpations  of  power,  he  applied  his  strongest 
language  ? 

"A. — I  can't  say  as  to  the  strongest  language,  for  he  always 
speaks  pretty  strongly.  He  denounced  any  usurpation  of 
power  to  stop  public  discussion  and  the  suffrage.  He  appealed 
to  the  people  to  protect  their  rights  as  the  remedy  for  their 
grievances.  He  warned  against  violence  and  revolutions.  By 
the  powerful  means  of  the  ballot-box  all  might  be  remedied 
that  was  wrong  of  a  public  nature,  and  the  courts  would  remedy 
all  grievances  of  a  private  personal  nature. 

"Q. — Was  anything  said  by  him  at  all  looking  to  forcible 
resistance  of  either  law  or  military  orders  ? 

"A. — Not  as  I  understood  it. 

"Q. — Was  anything  said  by  him  in  denunciation  of  the 
conscription  law? 

"A. — My  best  recollection  is  that  he  didn't  say  a  word 
about  it. 

"  Q. — Did  he  refer  to  the  French  conscription  bill  ? 

"A. — He  did  not.     I  spoke  of  it  myself. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  objected  to  what  Mr.  Cox  had  said, 
as  not  being  competent  evidence. 

"  Mr.  Cox  desired  to  say  to  the  Court,  in  explanation  of 
what  he  said  about  the  Conscription  law,  that  he  had  just 
before  the  meeting  been  talking  with  Judge  Bartley  about  our 
Conscription  law  having  been  copied  from  the  French  law,  and 
I  merely  referred  to  that  in  my  speech. 

"  Q. — By  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Do  you  remember  my  quot 
ing  from  President  Lincoln's  proclamation  of  July  1,  1862,  the 
words  '  unnecessary  and  injurious  war '  ? 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  279 

"A. — I  do  not.    He  may  have  done  so,  but  I  did  not  hear  it. 

"  Q' — By  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Did  you  hear  similar  lan 
guage  used  by  me  ? 

"  A. — I  cannot  recollect  it. 

"  Q. — Do  you  remember  his  comments  on  the  change  of  the 
policy  in  the  war  ? 

"  A. — He  did  refer  to  the  change  in  the  policy  of  the  war, 
and  devoted  some  time  to  showing  that  it  was  now  carried  on 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  ;  that  it  had  been  perverted  from  a 
war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  to  one  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery.  He  referred  to  the  Crittenden  resolution  to  show 
that  the  war  was  originally  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union. 

"  Q. — By  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Did  I  counsel  any  other 
mode  in  that  speech  of  resisting  usurpations  of  arbitrary 
power,  except  by  free  discussion  and  the  ballot-box  ? 

"  A.— He  did  not. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — As  I  understand  that  portion  of  the 
specification  which  relates  to  the  proposition  from  Richmond 
has  been  stricken  out,  I  will  ask  no  questions  about  it. 

"  Q' — Was  any  denunciation  of  officers  in  the  army  indulged 
in  by  him,  or  any  offensive  epithets  applied  to  them  ? 

"  A. — When,  occasionally,  he  used  the  words,  '  the  Pres 
ident  and  his  minions/  I  didn't  understand  him  to  use  them 
as  applicable  to  the  army.  I  think  it  was  in  connection  with 
arbitrary  arrests  when  he  used  these  words. 

"  Q. — Was  it  not  in  connection  with  army  contractors  and 
speculators  ? 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  objected  to  the  question,  and  said 
the  witness  had  distinctly  stated  that  he  did  not  think  Mr. 
Vallandigham  had  applied  it  to  the  officers  of  the  army. 

"  Q. — Do  I  understand  you  to  say  that  the  denunciations 
to  which  you  refer  were  chiefly  in  reference  to  arbitrary 
arrests  ? 

"  A. — My  recollection  is  that  that  was  the  connection  in 
which  it  was  used.  He  used  strong  epithets  towards  spies 
and  informers,  and  did  not  seem  to  like  them  very  much. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — As  the  Court  has  admitted  that  I  did 
make  a  distinction  between  the  Butler  County  case  and  the 
Kentucky  spy,  I  will  not  refer  to  it  now. 

"  Q. — Do  you  remember  the  connection  in  which  words  to 
this  effect  were  used  at  the  close  of  the  speech :  '  in  regard  to 


280  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

the  possibility  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union '  and  of  his  own 
determination  in  regard  to  such  a  contingency,  '  and  his  de 
clining  to  act  as  a  priest '  ? 

"  A. — I  cannot  give  the  exact  words,  but  I  remember  the 
metaphor,  '  that  he  would  not  be  a  priest  to  minister  at  the 
altar  of  disunion/  It  was  as  he  wound  up  his  speech.  He  was 
speaking  about  disunion,  and  his  attachment  to  the  Union. 

"  Q. — What  counsel  did  he  give  the  people  on  the  subject 
of  the  Union  at  the  close  of  his  speech  ? 

"A. — He  invoked  them  under  no  circumstances  to  surren 
der  the  Union.  I  think  he  said  something  about  leaving  it  to 
our  posterity. 

"Q. —  Do  you  remember  his  rebuke  of  arbitrary  court- 
martials,  and  was  it  in  connection  with  the  Butler  County 
case? 

"A. — Yes;  I  so  understood  it. 

"  Q. — What  was  the  general  character  of  his  remarks  on 
that  subject  ? 

"A. — He  denounced  the  applause  of  Jefferson  Davis  by 
that  party,  and  said  there  was  a  mode  by  which  this  man  could 
be  tried. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  asked  whether  the  rebuke  had  not  re 
ference  to  and  was  spoken  in  connection  with  the  Butler  County 
case  ?  He  desired  a  distinct  answer  to  this. 

"  Mr.  Cox. — He  was  speaking  of  the  Butler  County  case, 
and  he  pointed  out  a  mode  by  which  such  a  man  could  be 
tried. 

"  Q. —  Was  anything  said  in  his  speech  in  reference  to  the 
war  except  in  condemnation  of  what  he  claimed  to  be  the 
policy  upon  which  it  is  now  being  waged,  and  as  a  policy 
which  he  insisted  could  not  restore  the  Union,  but  must  end 
finally  in  disunion  ? 

"  A. —  I  can  only  give  my  understanding.  I  do  not  know 
what  inference  other  people  might  draw  from  it.  I  understood 
his  condemnation  of  the  war  to  be  launched  at  the  perversion 
of  its  original  purpose. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. —  I  do  not  remember  anything  further 
just  now.  I  have  some  other  witnesses  whom  I  desire  to  ex 
amine  on  this  same  point  who  are  not  yet  here. 

"  Judge  Advocate. —  I  have  no  questions  to  put  to  the  wit 
ness. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  281 

"  To  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Has  not  this  witness  sufficiently 
developed  the  purpose  and  spirit  of  your  speech  ? 

"Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  have  called  but  one  witness,  and 
I  understand  the  Court  has  several  more  to  corroborate  what 
their  first  witness  has  testified. 

"  Judge  Advocate. — The  Court  will  not  be  influenced  by  the 
number  of  witnesses.  The  number  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  case. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — I  did  not  counsel  any  resistance  in 
my  speech,  and  there  were  three  witnesses  on  the  stand,  one  of 
whom  was  the  presiding  officer,  and  one  a  reporter,  who  is  ac 
customed  to  reporting  speeches,  though  he  did  not  -report  on 
that  occasion,  whom  I  have  telegraphed  for,  and  expect  here  at 
4  P.  M. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  suggested  that  Mr.  Pendleton,  who 
was  now  present,  was  at  the  meeting  at  Mount  Yernon,  and 
that  he  might  be  called  to  the  stand. 

"  Mi\  Vallandigham. — Mr.  Pendleton  has  been  engaged  in 
this  case,  and  I  would  prefer  not  to  call  him,  as  I  have  other 
witnesses.  I  also  desire  to  show  that  the  criticisms  in  my 
speech  were  not  in  reference  to  General  Order  No.  38. 

"  Judge  Advocate. — The  witness  has  just  said  so. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — If  the  Court  will  admit  that,  then 
I  will  not  call  other  witnesses. 

"  Judge  Advocate. — I  will  admit  that  the  language  might 
not  have  been  used,  especially  towards  General  Order  No.  38 ; 
but  it  has  been  proved  that  such  language  was  used  in  the 
Mount  Vernon  speech  in  reference  to  military  orders. 

"  ]\Ir.  Vallandigham.— I  want  to  prove  that  it  was  not  used 
in  relation  to  General  Order  No.  38. 

"  Judge  Advocate. — I  will  admit  that  the  language  was  not 
used  in  regard  to  General  Order  No.  38,  but  generally  to 
military  orders. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham  said  he  desired  time  to  prepare  a 
defence  covering  this  testimony,  and  would,  according  to  the 
rules  governing  courts-martial,  submit  it  in  writing. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  said  he  might  cover  one  hundred  or 
two  hundred  pages  of  foolscap  in  reviewing  the  case,  and  this 
would  take  time.  He  [the  Judge  Advocate]  did  not  propose 
to  say  anything  on  the  evidence,  but  would  leave  it  with  tne 
Court.  Mr.  Vallandigham  might  say  what  he  desired  in 


282  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

defence  verbally,  and  it  could  be  reported  in  short-hand,  and 
thus  save  time. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  preferred  to  have  the  record  correct,  as 
it  would  have  to  go  before  another  tribunal. 

"  The  Court  then  took  a  recess  to  half-past  four  o'clock. 

"  The  Court  reconvened  at  five  P.  M. 

"The  Judge  Advocate  stated  that  the  witnesses  for  the 
accused,  who  were  expected — namely:  Leckey  Harper,  J.  T. 
Irvine,  and  Frank  H.  Hurd —  had  not  arrived,  and  that  he  had 
agreed  with  the  accused  to  admit,  as  it  would  avoid  a  continu 
ance,  that  if  they  were  present  and  under  oath  they  would 
testify  substantially  the  same  as  Mr.  Cox  had  done. 

"  Thereupon  Mr.  Vallandigham  said  he  had  no  more  testi 
mony  to  offer,  and  the  case  closed. 

"  The  Judge  Advocate  now  announced  that  the  testimony 
was  all  in.  , 

"At  the  request  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  the  testimony  of 
Mr.  Cox  was  read  over. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham. — Gentlemen  of  the  Court,  very  briefly 
and  respectfully  I  offer  the  following  protest : 


"  Arrested  without  process  of  law,  without  warrant  from 
any  judicial  officer,  and  now  in  military  custody,  I  have  been 
served  with  a  charge  and  specifications  as  from  a  court-martial 
or  military  commission.  I  am  not  in  either  the  land  or  the 
naval  service  of  the  United  States,  and  therefore  am  not  triable 
for  any  cause  by  such  court,  but  am  subject,  by  the  express 
terms  of  the  Constitution,  to  arrest  only  by  due  process  of  law, 
or  warrant  issued  by  some  officer  of  a  court  of  competent  juris 
diction  for  trial  of  citizens.  I  am  subject  to  indictment  and 
trial  on  presentation  of  a  grand  jury,  and  am  entitled  to  a 
speedy  trial,  to  be  confronted  with  witnesses  and  to  compulsory 
process  for  witnesses  in  my  behalf,  and  am  entitled  to  counsel. 
All  these  I  demand,  as  my  right  as  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States.  But  the  alleged  offence  itself  is  not  known  to  the  Con 
stitution,  nor  to  any  law  thereof.  It  is  words  spoken  to  the 
people  of  Ohio  in  an  open  public  political  meeting,  lawfully 
and  peacefully  assembled,  under  the  Constitution,  and  upon 
full  notice. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  283 

"  It  is  words  of  criticism  of  the  public  pojicy,  of  the  public 
servants  of  the  people,  by  which  policy  it  was  alleged  that  the 
welfare  of  the  country  was  not  promoted.  It  was  an  appeal  to 
the  people  to  change  that  policy,  not  by  force  but  by  free  elec 
tions  and  the  ballot-box.  It  is  not  pretended  that  I  counselled 
disobedience  to  the  Constitution  or  resistance  to  law  or  lawful 
authority.  I  never  have.  I  have  nothing  further  to  submit. 

(Signed)  C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

May  7. 

"Judge  Advocate. — I  find  nothing  in  the  defence  of  the 
accused  to  call  for  remark,  except  that  in  regard  to  counsel  and 
summoning  of  witnesses.  He  was  permitted  to  have,  and  did 
have  counsel  to  consult  with,  and  an  opportunity  was  oifered 
him  to  send  for  witnesses. 

"  The  Court  was  then  cleared  for  deliberation,  and  after  a 
session  of  three  hours,  their  decision  was  made  and  submitted 
to  General  Burnside  for  his  approval. 

"FINDING  AND  SENTENCE. 

"  The  Commission,  after  mature  deliberation  on  the  evidence 
adduced  and  the  statement  of  the  accused,  find  the  accused, 
Clement  L.  Yallandigham,  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  as 
follows : 

"  Of  the  specifications  (except  the  words, '  That  propositions 
by  which  the  Northern  States  could  be  won  back,  and  the 
South  guaranteed  their  rights  under  the  Constitution,  had  been 
rejected  the  day  before  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  by  Lincoln 
and  his  minions/  meaning  thereby  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  those  under  him  in  authority,  and  the  words  '  as 
serting  that  he  firmly  believed,  as  he  asserted  six  months  ago, 
that  the  men  in  power  are  attempting  to  establish  a  despotism 
in  this  country,  more  cruel  and  more  oppressive  than  ever 
existed  before/) — '  Guilty.' 

"  And  as  to  these  words,  ( Not  Guilty.' 

"  Of  the  charge,  <  Guilty.' 

"  And  the  Commission  do  therefore  sentence  him,  tne  said 
Clement  L.  Yallandigham,  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  to 
be  placed  in  close  confinement  in  some  fortress  of  the  United 
States,  to  be  designated  by  the  commanding  officer  of  this 
Department,  there  to  be  kept  during  the  continuance  of  the 
war. 


284  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  II.  The  proceedings,  finding,  and  sentence  in  the  fore- 
going  case  are  approved  and  confirmed,  and  it  is  directed  that 
the  place  of  confinement  of  the  prisoner,  Clement  L.  Yallan- 
digham,  in  accordance  with  said  sentence,  be  Fort  Warren, 
Boston  Harbor. 

"By  command  of  Major-General  Burnside, 

"LEWIS  RICHMOND, 
"Afrit.  Alj.-General." 

And  now  a  few  words  in  reference  to  the  character  of  this 
Military  Commission  by  which  Mr.  Yallandigham  was  tried. 
One  only  of  the  members  was  a  citizen  of  Ohio;  one  was  an 
unnaturalised  foreign  adventurer;  another  had  been  convicted 
of  being  the  keeper  of  a  disreputable  house,  while  the  Judge 
Advocate  subsequently  pleaded  guilty  to  certain  "  nimble  caper- 
ings  "  at  the  transom- light  of  a  lady's  bed-chamber  in  the 
Burnett  House.  They  had  been  fitly  selected  for  their  work, 
and  they  did  it  accordingly. 

The  result  of  the  trial  was  not  made  public  for  some  days, 
and  in  the  meantime  Mr.  Y.  was  imprisoned  in  a  room  in  the 
attic  of  the  Burnett  House,  where  he  wrote  the  following  letter 
to  his  wife  : — 

"  IN  BASTILE," 
No.  246  Burnett  House,  Cincinnati,  O.,  May  14,  'Go. 

"My  Very,  Very  Dear,  Dear  Wife. — 

"  I  am  still  here,  '  awaiting  orders/  in  military  phrase;  but 
as  calm  and  unmoved  as  ever.  My  only  concern  is  about  you 
and  my  dear,  dear  little  man  —  not  forgetting  indeed  any  of  my 
household.  But -I  depend  en  you  to  be  self-possessed  and 
patient,  no  matter  what  may  happen  to  me.  Be  assured  that 
we  shall  meet  again ;  and  further,  that  we  shall  see  days  of 
prosperity,  happiness,  and  exaltation  by-and-bye ;  and  you  and 
my  dear  boy  will  live  to  share  and  enjoy  them  with  me.  You 
have  read  all  this  in  Scripture,  in  history,  in  fiction.  True,  you 
did  not  dream  of  seeing  it  in  my  person  or  realising  it  in  your 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  285 

own;  but  it  has  turned  out  to  be  your  destiny.  Bear  it  all 
like  a  woman  —  a  heroine.  Take  care  of  my  dear,  dear  boy 
till  I  return.  All  goes  well  for  the  cause.  The  whole  Demo 
cratic  and  Conservative  press  is  speaking  out  majestically,  and 
the  leading  Abolition  presses  are  becoming  dumb.  Pendleton 
and  McLean  still  are  with  me  most  of  the  time.  Other  gentle 
men  also  call  every  day.  I  enclose  you  Gen.  E.  S.  Haines' 
card  which  he  sent  me  this  afternoon.  In  a  day  or  two  at  most 
the  result  of  the  case  will  be  made  known.  If  Judge  Leavitt 
be  honest  and  firm,  he  can  save  much  trouble  all  around ;  but 
I  doubt  him  much.  No  matter  what  disposition  is*  made  of 
me,  my  plans  are  all  settled  to  meet  each  alternative :  so  be 
calm  and  wait.  Pendleton  telegraphed  you  this  afternoon  that 
the  absurd  Tortugas  story  was  denied  by  authority.  But  I 
was  prepared  even  for  that.  Remember  me  to  all  friends  — 
enemies  I  will  remember  myself.  Do  not  worry  yourself  in 
the  least,  or  for  one  moment,  about  what  they  may  say  now. 
Your  time  will  come.  Meantime,  and  till  I  return,  friends  will 
take  care  of  you. 

"  Let  my  dear  little  boy  go  on  with  his  studies,  and  teach 
him  Latin  soon.     Tell  him  to  be  a  very  good  boy  and  be  kind 

and  obedient  to  you  and  his  aunt.    My  love  to  M ,  M , 

E ,  E ,  and  to  Ellen  Bell.     Many,  many  kisses  for 

yourself  and  Charlie. 

"  Most  affectionately, 

"YOUR  HUSBAND/' 


Two  days  after  the  trial  before  the  Military  Commission,  the 
Hon.  Geo.  E.  Pugh,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  moved 
for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  before  Humphrey  H.  Leavitt,  Judge 
of  the  United  States  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  Ohio. 
No  suspension  of  the  privilege  of  the  writ  had  at  that  time 
been  declared  under  the  Act  of  Congress,  and  the  pretence  of  a 
Presidential  right  to  suspend  it  had  been  exploded.  Judge  Lea 
vitt  required  that  notice  of  the  application  should  be  first  given  to 
Burnside,  who  submitted  an  extraordinary  paper  justifying  the 
act,  and  claiming  a  constitutional  and  legal  right  to  commit  it, 


286  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

as  military  commandant  of  the  Department  of  the  Ohio,  which 
he  chose  to  regard  as  a  vast  camp,  every  citizen  within  its  limits 
being  subject  to  military  law.  The  case  was  opened  011  the  llth 
by  Mr.  Pugh,  in  an  argument  of  great  ability  and  consummate 
eloquence.  He  was  replied  to  on  behalf  of  Burnside  by  two 
members  of  the  Cincinnati  bar,  in  elaborate  speeches,  appropri 
ated  and  modernised  from  the  Crown  lawyers  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.  and  James  II.  Mr.  Pugh  rejoined  in  an  argument 
of  even  greater  ability  than  his  first ;  and  Judge  Leavitt,  after 
two  or  three  days'  consideration,  and  upon  consultation  with 
Burnside,  refused  the  writ  upon  the  grounds,  first,  that  the 
arrest  was  legal ;  and  second,  that  though  it  had  been  illegal, 
it  was  "  morally  certain  that  the  writ  would  not  be  obeyed/7 
and  therefore  ought  not  to  be  issued.  Not  since  the  days  of 
Empson,  Dudley,  or  Jeffreys,  had  such  judicial  servility  to 
executive  power  been  exhibited.  Never,  except  upon  the  trial 
of  John  Hampden,  in  the  ship-money  case,  was  a  like  opinion 
pronounced  from  the  bench.  Let  a  single  sentence  suffice: 
"  The  sole  question,"  says  this  most  righteous  judge,  "is  whether 
the  arrest  was  legal;  and  as  before  remarked,  its  legality  depends 
on  the  necessity  which  existed  for  making  it,  and  of  that  necessity, 
for  the  reason  stated,  this  Court  cannot  judicially  determine." 
And  yet  this  monstrous  doctrine  is  among  the  most  moderate 
utterances  of  the  opinion.  The  twelve  judges  of  the  First 
Charles  were  not  more  complaisant.  "  There  is  a  rule  of  law," 
said  one  of  them,  "  and  a  rule  of  government ;  and  many 
things  which  may  not  be  done  by  the  rule  of  law,  may  be  done 
by  the  rule  of  government;"  and  they  all  agreed  that  "when  the 
good  and  safety  of  the  kingdom  in  general  is  concerned,  and 
the  whole  kingdom  in  danger,  the  king  is  the  sole  judge  both 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  287 

of  the  danger,  and  when  and  how  the  same  is  to  be  prevented 
and  avoided/'  The  English  judges  held  their  offices  during 
the  pleasure  of  their  master  the  king;  the  American  judge 
held  his  for  life,  and  under  a  written  Constitution  which 
expressly  declared  that  no  citizen  should  be  arrested  "  except 
upon  due  process  of  law." 

Two  days  after  the  refusal  of  the  habeas  corpus,  the  sentence 
of  the  Military  Commission  and  the  approval  of  it  by  Burnsidc 
were  made  public.  According  to  this  sentence,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  condemned  to  close  con 
finement  in  Fort  Warren,  Boston  harbor,  during  the  war. 
Imprisonment  on  the  Dry  Tortugas  Islands  had  at  first  been 
contemplated ;  and  many  believed  that  sentence  of  death  had 
been  Burnside's  original  purpose,  from  which  he  was  deterred 
only  by  the  violence  of  the  popular  indignation  which  the 
arrest  had  excited.  Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  he  certainly 
insisted  to  a  distinguished  gentleman  of  Cincinnati  that  he 
might  justly  put  Mr.  Vallandigham  to  death  for  a  speech 
delivered  by  him  at  Batavia  in  the  previous  April. 

The  violent  arrest,  illegal  trial,  and  unjust  conviction  and 
sentence  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  created  intense  excitement 
throughout  the  country.  The  Democratic  press  denounced 
the  outrage  in  unmeasured  terms,  and  very  few  even  of  the 
Republican  papers  attempted  to  justify  it — with  a  few  excep 
tions  they  expressed  disapproval.  Large  meetings  were  held 
in  various  places,  and  resolutions  were  adopted  and  speeches 
made  expressive  of  the  strongest  disapprobation.  These 
evidences  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  was  not  wholly  extinct 
in  the  land,  these  redeeming  features  in  those  dark  days  of 
despotism,  we  would  like  to  extensively  publish,  but  our  lim- 


288  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

ited  space  will  not  permit.     A  few  of  them,  however,  we  here 
place  on  record. 

On  Saturday,  the  16th  of  May,  a  meeting  was  held  in 
Albany,  New  York,  an  account  of  which  we  take  from  the 
Atlas  and  Argus : — 

"  One  of  the  largest  and  most  respectable  meetings  ever 
held  at  the  Capitol  convened  in  the  Park  on  Saturday  night 
for  the  purpose  of  protesting  against  the  arrest,  by  order  of 
General  Burnside,  of  Hon.  Clement  L.  Yallandigham.  By  8 
o'clock  the  broad  walk  leading  to  the  steps  of  the  Capitol  and 
the  adjacent  grounds  were  densely  packed  with  citizens,  and  soon 
after  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Henry  S.  Crandell, 
Esq.,  on  whose  nomination  Hon.  Erastus  Corning  was  chosen 
President,  who  was  assisted  by  a  large  number  of  Vice-Presi 
dents  and  Secretaries. 

"  The  meeting  was  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  and  spirited, 
the  most  determined  in  purpose  of  any  ever  held  in  the  city  of 
Albany.  It  was  a  meeting  of  freemen  in  defence  of  the  Con 
stitution.  It  was  composed  of  the  intellect,  the  patriotism  and 
the  vigor  of  the  city.  The  list  of  officers  embraces  the  most 
valued  names  in  our  city,  and  are  a  guarantee  of  the  character 
of  the  assemblage  and  of  its  interest  in  the  cause  of  law  and 
of  order. 

"The  proceedings  of  the  meeting  speak  for  themselves. 
We  point  to  the  letter  of  Gov.  Seymour  with  especial  gratifi 
cation.  It  rings  with  the  spirit  of  patriotism  and  of  republican 
vigor.  It  is  to  such  utterances  that  we  must  look  for  the 
upholding  of  liberty  and  the  restoration  of  the  Constitution. 

"The  speeches  of  Judge  Parker  and  Hon.  Francis  Kernan 
are  in  the  same  strain,  thoughtful  and  impressive.  The  closing 
speech  of  Mr.  Murphy,  of  Erie,  was  eloquent  and  animated. 

"  The  resolutions,  it  will  be  seen,  are  strikingly  moderate  in 
expression,  and  reserved  in  all  their  allusions  to  the  circumstances 
which  called  the  meeting  together — the  arrest  of  Yallandigham. 
We  respect  the  man  in  his  misfortune ;  but  it  was  not  so  much 
him  as  the  cause  of  personal  liberty  and  constitutional  law 
which  was  endangered  in  his  person,  that  enlisted  the  sympa 
thies  and  the  interest  of  this  meeting.  The  resolutions  refer 
to  the  services  of  the  Democracy  to  the  cause  of  the  nation  in 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  289 

this  crisis,  and  demand  that  the  Administration  shall  be  true 
to  the  Constitution.  They  demand  that  it  shall  reverse  the 
action  of  the  military  tribunal,  which  has  assumed  to  try  a 
citizen  for  the  offence  of  free  speech,  and  they  direct  that 
copies  of  the  resolutions  be  sent  to  the  President. 

"  It  was  a  glorious  meeting.  Its  numbers,  its  spirit,  and 
its  moderation  angered  the  few  Kepublicans  in  the  city,  who 
attempted  to  disturb  it  by  disorder.  The  Democrats  disposed 
of  the  disturbance  and  the  disturbers  with  a  strong  hand  and 
in  a  summary  way,  and  then  went  on  calmly  with  their  pro 
ceedings. 

"  The  meeting  will  be  a  historical  one  in  the  annals  of  the 
Democratic  party. 

"  Peter  Cagger,  Esq.,  stated  that  among  the  distinguished 
gentlemen  invited  to  address  the  meeting  was  his  Excellency 
Governor  Seymour.  Unfortunately,  his  Excellency  could  not 
attend,  but  he  had  sent  a  letter,  which  he  (Mr.  C.)  would  read. 
The  following  is  the  letter  which,  during  its  reading,  was  fre 
quently  applauded  in  the  heartiest  manner  : 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK, 
EXECUTIVE  DEPAKTMENT,  ALBANY,  May  16, 1863. 

"  I  cannot  attend  the  meeting  at  the  Capitol  this  evening, 
but  I  wish  to  state  my  opinion  in  regard  to  the  arrest  of  Mr. 
Vallandigham. 

"  It  is  an  act  which  has  brought  dishonor  upon  our  country ; 
it  is  full  of  danger  to  our  persons  and  to  our  homes  ;  it  bears 
upon  its  front  a  conscious  violation  of  law  and  of  justice.  Act 
ing  upon  the  evidence  of  detailed  informers,  shrinking  from 
the  light  of  day,  in  the  darkness  of  night,  armed  men  violated 
the  home  of  an  American  citizen,  and  furtively  bore  him  away 
to  a  military  trial  conducted  without  those  safeguards  known  in 
the  proceedings  of  our  judicial  tribunals. 

"  The  transaction  involved  a  series  of  offences  against  our 
most  sacred  rights.  It  interfered  with  the  freedom  of  speech ; 
it  violated  our  rights  to  be  secure  in  our  homes  against  unrea 
sonable  searches  and  seizures ;  it  pronounced  sentence  without 
a  trial  save  one  which  was  a  mockery  which  insulted  as  well  as 
wronged.  The  perpetrators  now  seek  to  impose  punishment, 
not  for  an  offence  against  law,  but  for  a  disregard  of  an  invalid 
order,  put  forth  in  an  utter  disregard  of  the  principles  of  civil 
liberty.  If  this  proceeding  is  approved  by  the  Government 

19 


290  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  sanctioned  by  the  people,  it  is  not  merely  a  step  towards 
revolution,  it  is  revolution ;  it  will  not  only  lead  to  military 
despotism,  it  establishes  military  despotism.  In  this  aspect  it 
must  be  accepted,  or  in  this  aspect  it  must  be  rejected. 

"  If  it  is  upheld,  our  liberties  are  overthrown.  The  safety 
of  our  persons,  the  security  of  our  property,  will  hereafter 
depend  upon  the  arbitrary  wills  of  such  military  rulers  as  may 
be  placed  over  us,  while  our  constitutional  guaranties  will  be 
broken  down.  Even  now  the  Governors  and  the  courts  of 
some  of  the  great  Western.  States  have  sunk  into  insignificance 
before  the  despotic  powers  claimed  and  exercised  by  military 
men  who  have  been  sent  into  their  borders.  It  is  a  fearful 
thing  to  increase  the  danger  which  now  overhangs  us  by 
treating  the  law,  the  judiciary,  and  the  authorities  of  States 
with  contempt.  The  people  of  this  country  now  await  with 
the  deepest  anxiety  the  decision  of  the  Administration  upon 
these  acts.  Having  given  it  a  generous  support  in  the  conduct 
of  the  war,  we  now  pause  to  see  what  kind  of  government  it 
is  for  which  we  are  asked  to  pour  out  our  blood  and  our 
treasures. 

"  The  action  of  the  Administration  will  determine  in  the 
minds  of  more  than  one-half  of  the  people  of  the  loyal  States, 
whether  this  war  is  waged  to  put  down  rebellion  at  the  South, 
or  to  destroy  free  institutions  at  the  North.  We  look  for  its 
decision  with  the  most  solemn  solicitude. 

"  HORATIO  SEYMOUR. 
"To  Peter  Cagger,  Solomon  F.  Higgins,  Erastus  Corning,  Jr.,  Committee. 

The  Hon.  John  V.  L.  Pruyin  offered  a  series  of  resolutions, 
which  were  unanimously  adopted,  and  able  and  eloquent 
speeches  were  delivered  by  Judge  Parker,  Hon.  Francis  Ker- 
nan,  Jind  Hon.  John  Murphy. 

[From  the  New  York  World,  May  19th.] 
"  GREAT  MASS  MEETING  IN  NEW  YORK. 

"VINDICATION  OF  LAW,  FREE  SPEECH,  AND  CONSTITUTIONAL 


"  The  great  mass  meeting  last  evening  at  Union  Square  in 
behalf  of  free  speech,  a  free  press,  and  personal  rights,  and 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  291 

having  special  reference  to  the  vindication  of  these  as  violated 
in  the  arrest  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  proved  a  magnificent  suc 
cess  both  in  numbers  and  enthusiasm.  The  arrangements  were 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Democratic  Union  Association,  and 
though  necessarily  made  somewhat  hurriedly,  owing  to  the 
urgency  of  immediate  action,  were  most  excellent. 

"  It  was  estimated  by  the  most  candid  persons,  experienced 
in  the  measurement  of  audiences,  that  there  werepresent  between 
twenty-five  and  thirty  thousand  people.  Four  stands  were 
erected  —  one  in  front  of  the  monument  of  Washington,  one 
facing  it,  one  on  the  south  side  of  Fourteenth  street,  and  a 
fourth  in  front  of  Dr.  Cheever's  church.  One  of  these  was 
devoted  entirely  to  German  speakers.  All  the  stands  were 
surrounded  by  a  perfect  mass  of  human  beings  packed  in  the 
closest  space,  and  extending  as  far  out  as  the  voice  of  the  loud 
est  speaker  could  reach.  The  stands  were  hung  with  American 
flags,  and  were  furnished  with  several  well-arranged  lamps 
each,  which  shed  sufficient  light  to  render  the  stands  entirely 
conspicuous,  and  in  addition  to  these,  Drummond  lights  were 
placed  in  different  locations,  lighting  up  the  whole  scene 
around. 

"  The  meeting  was  quietly  collecting  on  the  east  side  of  the 
square  at  half-past  seven.  The  German  Legion  pressed  up  from 
the  east  side  of  the  town  and  packed  closely  around  the  stands, 
and  at  a  quarter  to  eight  they  began  to  call  for  the  lights  and 
music.  Their  numbers  were  at  the  end  not  less  than  eight 
thousand. 

"  At  stand  No.  1  there  was  collected  about  an  equal  number. 
A  still  larger  and  more  dense  crowd  collected  around  the  stand 
in  front  of  the  Maison  Doree,  while  stand  No.  4  in  front  of 
Springier  Hotel  was  the  last  to  light  up,  and  massed  about  four 
thousand. 

"  Besides  the  people  collected  at  the  stands,  there  were  hun 
dreds  of  others  who  could  find  no  place  to  listen  at  these  regu 
lar  places,  and  for  that  reason  there  were  as  many  as  a  dozen 
extemporised  platforms  about  the  sides  of  the  square  on  wagons 
or  stoops,  from  which  speakers  of  various  calibre  spoke  to  audi 
ences  of  two  or  three  hundred.  At  one  place  there  was  an 
eloquent  young  man  in  soldier's  uniform,  telling  a  simple  and 
evidently  truthful  story,  not  as  gleaned  from  newspapers,  but 
from  his  own  experience  of  the  campaign  of  the  Army  of  the 


292  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

Potomac  under  McClellan,  and  expressing  a  patriotic  regret 
that  the  army  now  was  not  under  the  leadership  in  which  the 
soldiers  had  the  confidence  that  they  had  been  wont  to  feel  for 
their  own  commander.  Occasionally  there  passed  by  a  surly 
loyalist  who,  shutting  his  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  movement, 
whether  right  or  wrong,  was  at  least  tremendously  formidable, 
would  express  the  regret  as  one  was  heard  to  do,  that  New 
York  was  not  yet  sufficiently  under  martial  law  to  prevent  such 
demonstrations  of  the  people. 

"  The  following  resolutions  were  enthusiastically  and  unani 
mously  adopted: 

"  WHEREAS,  Within  a  State  where  the  courts  of  law  are 
open  and  their  process  unimpeded,  soldiers  under  the  command 
of  officers  of  the  United  States  army  have  broken  into  the 
residence  and  forcibly  abducted  from  his  home  the  Hon.  Clem 
ent  L.  Vallandigham ;  and 

"WHEREAS,  A  body  of  men  styled  a  military  commission 
have  arraigned  before  them  and  tried  the  said  Hon.  C.  L.  Val 
landigham,  a  civilian  and  eminent  public  man,  for  words  spoken 
in  the  discussion  of  public  questions  before  an  assemblage  of  his 
fellow-citizens;  and 

"  WHEREAS,  The  said  military  commission  have  sentenced 
him  to  a  punishment  as  yet  unknown,  but  which  is  to  be 
announced  in  some  military  order  to  be  promulgated  hereafter; 
therefore 

"  Resolved,  That  we,  the  citizens  of  the  city  of  New  York 
here  assembled,  denounce  the  arrest  of  Hon.  Clement  L.  Val 
landigham  and  his  trial  and  sentence  by  a  military  commis 
sion  as  a  startling  outrage  upon  the  hitherto  sacred  rights  of 
American  citizenship. 

"Resolved,  That  the  exigencies  of  civil  war  require  the 
fullest  and  freest  discussion  of  public  questions  by  the  American 
people,  to  the  end  that  their  temporary  public  servants  may  not 
forget  that  they  are  the  creatures  of  the  public  will  and  must 
respect  the  obligations  and  duties  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
Constitution  of  their  country,  which  is  the  authentic,  solemn 
expression  of  that  will ;  and  that  whenever  upon  the  orders  of 
military  commanders  and  from  fear  of  their  spies  and  informers, 
American  citizens  not  in  the  military  service  shall  fail  to 
approve  or  disapprove  measures  of  public  policy,  to  denounce 
or  applaud  the  commander-in-chief,  and  to  advocate  peace  or 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  293 

war  as  their  judgments  may  dictate,  they  have  ceased  to  be 
freemen  and  have  already  become  slaves. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  reverently  cherish  that  great  body  of 
constitutions,  laws,  precedents  and  traditions  which  constitute 
us  a  free  people,  and  that  we  hold  those  who  designedly  and 
persistently  violate  them  as  public  enemies. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  are  devotedly  attached  to  the  Union  of 
these  States,  and  can  see  nothing  but  calamity  and  weakness  in 
its  disruption,  and  shall  continue  to  advocate  whatever  policy 
we  believe  will  result  in  the  restoration  of  that  Union. 

"  Resolved,  That  at  a  time  when  our  fellow-citizens  are  fall 
ing  by  thousands  upon  the  battle-field,  and  human  carnage  has 
become  familiar,  we  implore  the  Federal  authorities  not  to 
adopt  the  fatal  error  that  the  system  of  imprisonment  and 
terrorism  will  subjugate  the  minds  and  stifle  the  voice  of  the 
American  people." 

The  crowds  at  the  various  stands  were  addressed  by  Hon. 
E.  P.  Norton,  J.  A.  McMaster,  Esq.,  Judge  McCunn,  Hon. 
W.  B.  Rankin,  John  Mullaly,  Esq.,  Dr.  Merkle,  Mr.  Daniel 
Burdsall,  Prof.  Mason,  and  many  others.  "VVe  regret  exceed 
ingly  that  we  have  not  space  for  copious  extracts  from  their 
able  and  eloquent  speeches. 

The  following  account  of  the  great  meeting  in  Philadelphia 
is  from  the  Ag+of  June  2d : — 

"  Yesterday  evening  one  of  the  largest  and  most  enthusiastic 
political  meetings  which  has  ever  been  held  in  this  city,  made 
old  Independence  Square  ring  with  its  cheers  for  that  Consti 
tution  and  Union  which  were  first  planned  and  formed  upon 
the  very  spot  upon  which  stood  the  vast  and  swaying  multi 
tude.  Towards  dusk  the  various  delegations  from  the  Demo 
cratic  clubs,  organised  throughout  the  city,  began  to  make  their 
appearance,  and  continued  to  arrive  in  constantly  accumulating 
numbers  until  at  last  the  whole  space  of  the  large  square  was 
covered  with  a  great  and  eager  crowd." 

The  Hon.  Ellis  Lewis,  ex-Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Pennsylvania,  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  a  large 
number  of  Yice-Presidents  and  Secretaries  were  appointed. 


294  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Resolutions  similar  in  spirit  to  those  passed  at  the  New 
York  meeting  were  unanimously  adopted.  Speeches,  bold, 
able  and  eloquent,  were  then  made  by  ex-Chief-Justice  Lewis, 
ex-Gov.  Wm.  Bigler,  Hon.  Charles  J.  Biddle,  Hon.  Peter 
McCall,  George.  W.  Biddle,  Esq.,  George  Northrop,  Esq., 
Charles  Ingersoll,  Esq.,  and  others. 

After  the  reading  of  letters  from  Hon.  G.  M.  Wharton, 
Hon.  Richard  Vaux,  and  others,  the  meeting  adjourned. 

"  Thus  quietly  and  pleasantly  ended  one  of  the  greatest 
political  demonstrations  that  Philadelphia  has  ever  known.  In 
spite  of  all  the  predictions  to  the  contrary,  the  whole  affair 
passed  oif  as  peaceably  and  as  orderly  as  even  the  most  law- 
abiding  of  citizens  could  wish.  Indeed,  but  few  meetings  have 
ever  been  held  which  have  been  characterised  by  so  thorough  a 
disposition  for  order  and  deliberation." 

The  expression  of  public  opinion  through  these  meetings 
and  by  the  press  in  every  part  of  the  country  produced  a 
powerful  effect.  It  had  been  Burnside's  intention  to  arrest  all 
the  chief  Democratic  leaders  of  the  Northwest,  and  in  some 
cases  the  orders  had  been  made  out.  In  alarm  he  was  now 
obliged  to  pause.  His  attempt  soon  after  ^o  suppress  the 
Chicago  Times  called  forth  so  powerful  an  insurrectionary 
feeling,  that  the  President  was  forced  to  revoke  the  order. 
Thus,  through  premature  and  too  violent  development,  the 
whole  conspiracy  to  break  down  party  opposition  to  the  men 
in  power,  and  subjugate  the  Northwest,  utterly  failed. 

In  February,  1864,  application  for  redress  in  behalf  of 
Mr.  Vallandigham  was  made  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  and  although  a  notice  of  it  now  is  out  of  the 
order  of  time,  still  to  close  up  the  matter  of  his  trial  we  will 
here  give  it.  Mr.  Pugh  applied  for  a  writ  of  certiorari  to 


LIFE   OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  295 

review  and  annul  the  proceedings  and  sentence  of  the  military 
commission  before  which  Mr.  Vallandigham  had  been  tried ; 
but  that  tribunal,  having  under  the  Constitution  no  appellate 
jurisdiction  of  any  kind,  except  in  cases  first  ascertained  by 
law,  and  Congress  not  having  given  such  jurisdiction  in  any 
proceeding  before  courts-martial  or  military  commission,  was 
obliged,  and  upon  this  ground  expressly  and  alone,  to  deny 
the  writ.  No  American  legislator  had  ever  before  imagined 
that  any  mere  citizen  would,  under  any  circumstances,  be  sub 
jected  to  trial  by  military  law  in  a  State  where  judicial  process 
and  courts  had  never  been  interrupted,  and  therefore  no  mode 
of  redress  had  ever  been  provided. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

EXILE    AND     POLITICAL    CAMPAIGN    OF     1863. 

ALL  efforts  for  Mr.  Vallandigham's  release  having  failed,  on 
the  19th  day  of  May,  1863,  he  was  placed  upon  the  gunboat 
Exchange,  commanded  by  Captain  John  Sebastian,  to  be  trans 
ferred  to  Louisville  on  his  way  South.  His  intercourse  with 
Captain  Sebastian  was  pleasant.  The  Captain  was  a  gentleman 
in  every  sense  of  the  word,  and  had  a  heart  capable  of  appre 
ciating  the  feelings  of  his  prisoner.  A  regard  and  intimacy 
grew  up  between  them  which  lasted  during  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham's  life.  Just  before  his  death  he  gave  a  letter  of  introduc 
tion  to  a  friend  to  be  presented  to  Captain  Sebastian,  and  when 
he  did  so  he  spoke  in  the  warmest  terms  of  the  kindness  and 
consideration  with  which  the  Captain  had  treated  him  when  he 
took  him  a  prisoner  from  Cincinnati  to  Louisville.  It  was  the 
19th  of  May  when  Mr.  V.  was  put  in  charge  of  Captain 
Sebastian,  and  at  11  o'clock  on  the  22d  the  steamer  started 
down  the  river.  He  was  informed  of  the  change  of  his  sen 
tence  (from  imprisonment  in  Fort  Warren  to  banishment  to  the 
South)  upon  the  gunboat  a  day  or  two  before.  The  morning 
of  his  departure  from  Cincinnati,  he  drew  up  the  following 
address  to  the  Democracy  of  Ohio : — 

"  MILITARY  PRISON,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO,  May  22, 1863. 
"  To  the  Democracy  of  Ohio : 

"Banished  from  my  native  State  for  no  crime  save  Demo- 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  297 

cratic  opinions  and  free  speech  to  you  in  their  defence,  and 
about  to  go  into  exile,  not  of  my  own  will  but  by  the  compul 
sion  of  an  arbitrary  and  tyrannic  power  which  I  cannot  resist, 
allow  me  a  parting  word.  Because  despotism  and  superior 
force  so  will  it,  I  go  within  the  Confederate  lines.  I  well  under 
stand  the  purpose  of  this  order.  But  in  vain  the  malice  of 
enemies  shall  thus  continue  to  give  color  to  the  calumnies  and 
misrepresentations  of  the  past  two  years.  They  little  compre 
hend  the  true  character  of  the  man  with  whom  they  have  to 
deal.  No  order  of  banishment,  executed  by  superior  force,  can 
release  me  from  my  obligations  or  deprive  me  of  my  rights  as 
a  citizen  of  Ohio  and  of  the  United  States.  My  allegiance  to 
my  own  State  and  Government  I  shall  recognise,  wheresoever 
I  may  be,  as  binding  in  all  things,  just  the  same  as  though  I 
remained  upon  their  soil.  Every  sentiment  and  expression  of 
attachment  to  the  Union  and  devotion  to  the  Constitution — to 
my  country  —  which  I  have  ever  cherished  or  uttered,  shall 
abide  unchanged  and  unretracted  till  my  return.  Meantime,  I 
will  not  doubt  that  the  people  of  Ohio,  cowering  not  a  moment 
before  the  threats  or  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power,  will,  in 
every  trial,  prove  themselves  worthy  to  be  called  freemen. 

"C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM." 


On  his  arrival  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  he  wrote  a  letter  to 
his  wife  dated  May  23d,  in  which  he  said  he  "  was  in  fine 
spirits  and  enjoying  excellent  health."  After  remaining  a  few 
hours  at  Louisville,  he  was  started  under  a  strong  guard  for 
Murfreesboro',  the  outpost  of  the  Northern  army  in  Tennessee. 
His  journey  was  without  adventure;  he  remained  but  a  short 
time  in  Nashville,  and  thence  in  a  special  train  proceeded  to 
Murfreesboro'. 

On  the  evening  of  May  24th  he  was  brought  to  the  house 
of  the  Hon.  Charles  Ready,  in  Murfreesboro',  Tennessee,  then 
the  headquarters  of  the  Provost-Marshal.  It  was  there  he  first 
met  General  Rosecrans,  and  the  interview  between  them  was 
interesting,  and,  considering  the  circumstances,  much  more 


298  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

agreeable  than  could  have  been  expected.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  conversation  between  these  distinguished  men,  the  Gen 
eral,  without  using  any  insulting  expression  to  his  prisoner, 
manifested  a  disposition  to  lecture  him  for  his  opposition  to 
the  war.  This  was  promptly  met  in  a  firm  and  dignified  man 
ner  by  Mr.  Vallandigham.  The  General  was  somewhat  taken 
aback  for  a  moment,  and  then  proceeded  to  give  his  views  upon 
the  harm  done,  in  his  opinion,  by  men  who  were  "  disloyal " 
in  the  North,  and  the  hatred  entertained  against  such  men  in 
the  army.  He  concluded  by  remarking,  "  Why,  Sir,  do  you 
know  that  unless  I  protect  you  with  a  guard  my  soldiers  will 
tear  you  to  pieces  in  an  instant  ?  "  To  this  Mr.  Vallandigham 
in  substance  replied,  "  That,  Sir,  is  because  they  are  just  as 
prejudiced  and  ignorant  of  my  character  and  career  as  yourself; 
but,  General,  I  have  a  proposition  to  make.  Draw  your 
soldiers  up  in  a  hollow  square  to-morrow  morning,  and  an 
nounce  to  them  that  Vallandigham  desires  to  vindicate  him 
self,  and  I  will  guarantee  that  when  theyv  have  heard  me 
through  they  will  be  more  willing  to  tear  Lincoln  and  yourself 
to  pieces  than  they  will  Vallandigham."  The  General  shook 
his  head  and  declined  the  experiment,  saying  "he  had  too 
much  regard  for  the  life  of  the  prisoner  to  try  it."  The  conver 
sation  then  became  less  personal  in  its  nature,  and  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham's  pleasant  genial  manner  so  won  upon  the  gallant  Gen 
eral,  that  before  they  parted  their  interview  assumed  more  the 
appearance  of  a  convivial  meeting  than  that  of  a  prisoner  with 
one  having  almost  unlimited  authority  over  his  disposal. 
About  midnight  the  General  arose  to  leave,  and  laying  his  hand 
on  Mr.  V.'s  shoulder,  he  said  to  Col.  McK.,  of  his  staff,  "He, 
don't  look  a  bit  like  a  traitor,  now  does  he,  Joe?"  They  talked 


LIFE   OB"1   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  299 

together  about  four  hours,  and  before  the  interview  ended  it 
was  very  evident  that  the  General  regretted  the  duty  that 
devolved  upon  him  of  enforcing  the  penalty  against  his  pris 
oner.  Upon  parting  he  shook  Mr.  "Vallandigham  warmly  by 
the  hand. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  25th  the  clattering  of 
hoofs  and  the  clank  of  sabres  gave  him  notice  to  prepare  for 
further  journeyings.  Surrounded  by  quite  a  numerous  body 
of  cavalry,  commanded  by  Major  Miles,  the  Provost-Marshal, 
he  went  forth  into  the  darkness  towards  the  Confederate  lines, 
by  way  of  the  Shelbyville  pike.  After  marching  forward  for 
a  little  over  an  hour,  a  halt  was  made  at  the  house  of  a  Mr. 
Butler  to  wait  for  daylight.  At  the  first  gleam  of  dawn  the 
escort  and  the  prisoner  resumed  their  march.  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham  was  composed  and  cheerful,  and  discussed  his  situation 
indifferently  as  he  rode  along ;  but  according  to  the  account  of 
one  of  his  escort,  was  perceptibly  affected  when  the  extreme 
outpost  of  the  Union  army  was  passed  and  the  Confederate 
picket-line  was  approached.  He  breakfasted  at  the  house 
of  a  Mrs.  Alexander,  while  the  officers  in  charge  of  him 
went  with  a  flag  of  truce  to  announce  to  the  officer  command 
ing  the  Southern  pickets  the  presence  of  Mr.  Vallandigham, 
and  their  desire  to  place  him  within  the  Confederate  lines. 
Considerable  delay  ensued.  The  officer  having  charge  of  the 
Southern  pickets  seemed  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  permitting 
Mr.  V.  to  come  within  the  lines,  and  word  was  sent  to  General 
Bragg  of  the  condition  of  affairs.  Meanwhile  the  Federal 
officer,  who  did  not  want  any  longer  to  be  delayed  with  his 
troublesome  charge,  took  him  to  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
extreme  picket-line  of  the  Confederate  forces,  and  left  him  at 


300  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

the  house  of  Jeremiah  Odell.  Before  the  Federal  officers  left 
Mr.  V.  addressed  these  words  to  the  Confederate  soldier,  a  pri 
vate  in  the  8th  Alabama  regiment,  who  had  been  sent  to  meet 
him.  "  I  am  a  citizen  of  Ohio;  and  of  the  United  States.  I 
am  here  within  your  lines  by  force,  and  against  my  will.  I 
therefore  surrender  myself  to  you  as  a  prisoner  of  war."  The 
Federal  officers  then  bade  him  farewell  and  galloped  away. 
The  soldier  with  whom  he  was  now  left  seemed  greatly  per 
plexed  as  to  how  he  should  act,  and  whether  he  was  to  con 
sider  his  prisoner  as  a  friend  or  an  enemy.  General  Bragg's 
headquarters  were  sixteen  miles  in  the  rear  of  the  advanced 
post  at  which  Mr.  Yallandigham  was  left,  and  it  was  several 
hours  before  an  answer  came  from  the  General  authorising  his 
reception.  "  They  were  hours,"  said  Mr.  Yallandigham,  "  of 
solitude,  but  calmly  spent  —  the  bright  sun  shining  in  the 
clear  sky  above  me,  and  faith  in  God  and  the  future  burning 
in  my  heart."  But  it  was  a  novel  situation,  and  many  strange 
thoughts  passed  through  his  mind  as  he  stood  upon  the  neutral 
ground  between  contending  armies,  not  daring  to  go  back  and 
uncertain  whether  he  could  go  forward.  About  noon  a  mes 
sage  came  from  General  Bragg  to  bring  Mr.  V.  to  his  head 
quarters  ;  and  he  was  driven  in  an  ambulance,  under  an  escort 
of  cavalry,  through  numerous  camps  to  Shelby ville.  Soon 
after  dusk  he  arrived  in  the  town  and  proceeded  immediately 
to  the  General's  headquarters,  where  he  was  met  in  a  kind  and 
courteous  manner.  In  the  evening  he  was  directed  to  the 
house  of  Mrs.  Eakin,  where  a  spacious  and  pleasant  room  had 
been  provided  for  him.  "  I  retired  at  once,"  he  wrote  to  a 
friend,  "  having  slept  but  half  an  hour  since  Saturday  night, 
and  was  awakened  early  next  morning  by  the  rays  of  a  bright 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  301 

Southern  sun  piercing  the  eastern  window  of  my  room.  There 
were  no  sentinels  at  my  door,  and  I  walked  out  unchallenged." 
An  interesting  incident  occurred  to  him  whilst  he  was  sojourn 
ing  in  the  neighborhood  of  Shelbyville.  In  company  with 
other  gentlemen  he  was  invited  to  spend  the  day  at  the  house 
of  a  very  elegant  and  estimable  lady  living  near  that  place. 
After  a  day  most  agreeably  spent  in  the  society  of  several 
charming  ladies,  he  was  preparing  to  leave,  when  his  hostess 
addressed  him  in  substantially  these  words  : — "  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham,  we  expect  you  to  remain  with  us.  About  a  year  ago  I 
had  a  singular  presentiment,  having  often  heard  of  you  and 
admired  your  noble  and  independent  spirit,  that  you  would  be 
either  driven  or  banished  from  your  home  to  the  South,  and  I 
then  set  about  preparing  a  room  for  you.  I  have  had  it  ready  for 
months,  and  now  you  must  remain  and  occupy  it,  for  it  was 
fitted  up  especially  for  your  convenience  and  comfort."  Sin 
gular  as  this  statement  was,  it  was  nevertheless  true,  for  she 
had  mentioned  it  to  others  before  he  was  sent  South  ;  yet  she 
had  never  seen  him  until  the  day  this  conversation  occurred. 
Mr.  Yallandigham  received  many  similar  invitations  whilst  in 
the  South,  among  them  one  from  the  Hon.  Joshua  Hill,  of 
Georgia,  a  gentleman  who  was  an  earnest  supporter  of  the 
Union  during  the  whole  war.  In  Shelbyville  he  remained  a 
week,  passing  most  of  the  time  in  seclusion.  On  the  1st  of 
June  he  was  directed  to  report  on  parole  to  General  Whiting 
at  Wilmington,  Korth  Carolina.  The  next  day,  as  he  was 
passing  along  through  the  camps,  just  before  taking  the  train 
for  Chattanooga,  friendly  demonstrations  were  made  towards 
him  by  crowds  of  soldiers  who  had  been  informed  who  it  was : 
this  was  promptly  suppressed  by  the  officers,  and  was  unex 
pected  and  undesired  by  Mr.  Vallandigham. 


302  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

Leaving  Mr.  Vallandigham  for  the  present  in  the  South,  we 
return  to  the  State  of  Ohio.  The  Democratic  State  Convention 
assembled  at  Columbus  on  the  llth  of  June.  In  many  respects 
it  was  the  most  remarkable  political  meeting  ever  held  in  the 
United  States.  Although  but  a  delegate  convention,  the  people 
came  up  from  every  county  to  the  number  of  more  than  twenty 
thousand.  Even  from  parts  of  the  State  traversed  by  railroads, 
many  travelled  in  wagons,  and  bringing  provisions  with  them, 
camped  out.  At  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  llth,  three 
several  orators  from  as  many  different  stands  in  the  State  House 
yard  were  haranguing  the  people.  The  following  accounts  are 
from  papers  published  at  the  time.  The  Statesman  says : — 

"The  Democratic  State  Convention  of  June  11,  1863,  will 
long  be  remembered  by  thousands  who  participated  in  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  day,  as  well  as  by  the  denizens  of  Columbus 
and  other  lookers-on  who  may  not  have  participated  in  its 
proceedings  nor  sympathised  in  what  was  done.  Such  an  out 
pouring  of  the  people  was  never  witnessed  in  Ohio,  and  the 
spirit  and  enthusiasm  that  prevailed  were  unparalleled. 

"  Early  as  Tuesday  evening  the  people  began  to  flock  to 
the  capital  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  on  Wednesday  a 
constant  stream  kept  pouring  into  the  city,  until  every  place 
where  entertainment  could  be  had  was  exhausted,  and  many  of 
the  private  residences  as  well  as  our  public  buildings  were  filled 
to  overflowing,  to  say  nothing  of  the  mass  of  people  that 
camped  out  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  When  to  this  vast 
crowd  was  added  the  number  that  came  in  on  yesterday  morn 
ing  from  every  section  of  the  country,  the  assembled  thousands 
were  here  in  such  numbers  that  we  will  not  attempt  to  estimate 
them.  Every  conceivable  mode  of  conveyance  was  brought 
into  requisition  to  bring  the  people  to  Columbus.  They  came 
by  railroad,  in  canal  boats,  in  carriages,  wagons,  on  horseback 
and  on  foot,  and  but  one  heart  and  one  spirit  animated  the 
immense  living  and  moving  mass,  and  that  was  a  determination 
to  do  everything  in  the  power  of  men  to  do  to  save,  if  possible, 
the  grand  old  Constitution  and  the  Union,  and  their  own  per- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  303 

sonal  rights  and  liberties  as  citizens  of  Ohio.  On  "Wednesday 
afternoon  and  evening  impromptu  speeches  were  made,  not  only 
in  the  centre  of  the  city  to  large  crowds,  but  in  many  portions 
of  the  town  remote  from  the  State  House ;  and  on  yesterday 
morning  early,  the  people  appearing  in  vast  cavalcades  from 
every  road  that  leads  to  our  city,  was  the  signal  for  huzzas  and 
speaking  to  commence,  which  was  inaugurated  before  7  o'clock 
in  the  morning  and  kept  up  all  day.  And  as  to  the  vast  crowd, 
what  shall  we  say  of  it  ?  In  enthusiasm  it  was  beyond  any 
thing  we  have  ever  witnessed  in  the  many  meetings  we  have 
attended  in  the  past  thirty  years,  and  in  its  personal  conduct 
and  demeanor  we  think  we  speak  correctly  and  truly  when  we 
say  that  a  more  orderly  assemblage  never  met  on  any  occasion 
in  Ohk>o" 

The  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  (Republican) 
says : — 

"  By  the  evening  trains  the  crowd  came  pouring  in  as  if  the 
flood  would  never  cease.  The  hotels  were  already  overflowing. 
The  clerk  of  the  Neil  House  allowed  me  one  room,  to  which 
he  had  already  absolutely  assigned  seventeen  delegates,  while 
six  more  for  the  same  room  were  marked  '  coming/  A  smart 
shower  did  not  seem  to  dampen  the  unmistakable  enthusiasm 
in  the  least.  Crowds  on  the  corners  cheered  for  Yallandigham; 
little  boys  perambulated  the  hotels  peddling  photographs  of  the 
exile ;  a  meeting  was  improvised  in  the  midst  of  the  rain  in 
the  State  House  yard,  and  patient  .crowds,  with  and  without 
umbrellas,  listened  to  a  Mr.  Mayo,  who  declared  that  it  would 
be  the  proud  privilege,  as  well  as  the  duty  of  the  Convention, 
to  nominate  that  incorruptible  statesman  and  fearless  patriot, 
Clement  L.  Yallandigham,  and  then,  if  military  minions  under 
took  to  interfere  with  the  election  or  inauguration,  let  them  fall 
back  upon  their  own  stout  right  arms  and  hearts,  and  defend 
their  constitutional  rights:  whereat  the  crowd  cheered  im 
mensely.  The  enthusiasm  is  as  unquestioned  as  the  crowd. 
As  I  write,  the  State  House  yard  is  black  with  the  audience  of 
some  c stumper'  on  the  steps,  and  every  minute  or  two  there 
comes  a  burst  of  cheering,  and  the  air  is  darkened  with  a  swarm 
of  waving  hats.  The  streets  are  filled  with  the  incoming  dele 
gates  ;  now  and  then  files  of  straggling  wagons,  with  a  profusion 


304  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

of  flags,  pass  along,  and  the  inmates  yell  and  wave  their  hats 
Avith  frantic  earnestness —  everywhere  cheering  and  flags  and 
crowds  of  earnestly-talking  and  gesticulating  humanity,  and 
shouts  of  '  Hurrah  for  Vallandigham ! '  There  has  been  no 
more  enthusiastic  convention  here  for  years  than  this  one  now 
promises  to  be." 

After  the  organization  of  the  Convention  a  ballot  was  taken 
for  Governor,  and  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  nominated  by  a  vote 
of  four  hundred  and  eleven  to  thirteen.  The  nomination  was 
then  made  unanimous  amid  shouts  of  applause.  Able  and 
eloquent  speeches  were  made  and  spirited  resolutions  passed. 
Among  them  w^ere  the  following : — 

"  That  the  arrest,  imprisonment,  and  pretended  trial  and 
actual  banishment  of  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  a  citizen  of  the  State 
of  Ohio,  not  belonging  to  the  land  or  naval  forces  of  the  United 
States,  nor  to  the  militia  in  actual  service,  by  alleged  military 
authority,  for  no  other  pretended  crime  than  that  of  uttering 
words  of  legitimate  criticism  upon  the  conduct  of  the  Admin 
istration  in  power,  and  of  appealing  to  the  ballot-box  for  a 
change  of  policy  —  said  arrest  and  military  trial  taking  place 
where  the  courts  of  law  are  open  and  unobstructed,  and  for  no 
act  done  within  the  sphere  of  active,  military  operations  in 
carrying  on  the  war  —  we  regard  as  a  palpable  violation  of  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

"  That  Clement  L.  Vallandigham  was,  at  the  time  of  his 
arrest,  a  prominent  candidate  for  nomination  by  the  Demo 
cratic  party  for  the  office  of  Governor  of  the  State ;  that  the 
Democratic  party  was  fully  competent  to  decide  whether  he 
was  a  fit  man  for  that  nomination,  and  that  the  attempt  to 
deprive  them  of  that  right  by  his  arrest  and  banishment  was 
an  unmerited  imputation  upon  their  intelligence  and  loyalty, 
as  well  as  a  violation  of  the  Constitution. 

"  That  \ve  respectfully,  but  most  earnestly,  call  upon  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  restore  Clement  L.  Vallan 
digham  to  his  home  in  Ohio,  and  that  a  committee  of  one  from 
each  congressional  district  of  the  State,  to  be  selected  by  the 
presiding  officer  of  this  convention,  is  hereby  appointed  to  pre 
sent  this  application  to  the  President." 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  305 

In  pursuance  of  this  resolution,  a  committee  composed  of 
some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  State  was  appointed,  who 
repaired  to  Washington,  and  in  person  delivered  the  following 
letter  to  the  President : — 

"WASHINGTON  CITY,  June  26,  1863. 
"To  His  Excellency,  the  President  of  the  United  States  .-—The 
undersigned  having  been  appointed  a  committee,  under  the 
authority  of  the  resolutions  of  the  State  Convention  held  at 
the  City  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  on  the  1 1th  inst.,  to  communi 
cate  with  you  on  the  subject  of  the  arrest  and  banishment  of 
Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  most  respectfully  submit  the  follow 
ing  as  the  resolutions  of  that  Contention  bearing  upon  the 
subject  of  this  communication,  and  ask  of  your  Excellency 
their  earnest  consideration.  And  they  deem  it  proper  to  state 
that  the  Convention  was  one  in  which  all  parts  of  the  State 
were  represented,  and  one  of  the  most  respectable  as  to  num 
bers  and  character,  one  of  the  most  earnest  and  sincere  in 
the  support  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  ever  held  in 
that  State." 

Here  were  inserted  the  resolutions,  some  of  which  are 
presented  above. 

"  The  undersigned,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duty  assigned 
them,  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  reiterate  the  facts  connected 
with  the  arrest,  trial,  and  banishment  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  — 
they  are  well  known  to  the  President,  and  are  of  public  history 
—  nor  to  enlarge  upon  the  positions  taken  by  the  Convention, 
nor  to  recapitulate  the  CONSTITUTIONAL  PROVISIONS  which  it 
is  believed  have  been  violated :  they  have  been  stated  at  length, 
and  with  clearness,  in  the  resolutions  which  have  been  recited. 
The  undersigned  content  themselves  with  a  brief  reference  to 
other  suggestions  pertinent  to  the  subject. 

"They  do  not  call  upon  your  Excellency  as  suppliants, 
praying  the  revocation  of  the  order  banishing  Mr.  Vallandig 
ham  as  a  favor ;  but  by  the  authority  of  a  Convention  repre 
senting  a  majority  of  the  citizens  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  they 
respectfully  ask  it  as  a  right  due  to  an  American  citizen  in  whose 
personal  injury  the  sovereignty  and  dignity  of  the  people  of 

20 


306  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Ohio  as  a  free  State  have  been  offended.  And  this  duty  they 
perform  the  more  cordially  from  thtf  consideration  that,  at  a 
time  of  great  national  emergency,  pregnant  with  danger  to  our 
Federal  Union,  it  is  all-important  that  the  true  friends  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union,  however  they  may  differ  as  to 
the  mode  of  administering  the  Government,  and  the  measures 
most  likely  to  be  successful  in  the  maintenance  of  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  restoration  of  the  Union,  should  not  be  thrown 
into  conflict  with  each  other. 

"  The  arrest,  unusual  trial,  and  banishment  of  Mr.  Yallan- 
digham,  have  created  wide-spread  and  alarming  disaffection 
among  the  people  of  the  State,  not  only  endangering  the  har 
mony  of  the  friends  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  and 
tending  to  disturb  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  State,  but 
also  impairing  that  confidence  in  the  fidelity  of  your  Adminis 
tration  to  the  great  landmarks  of  free  government  essential  to 
a  peaceful  and  successful  enforcement  of  the  laws  of  Ohio. 

"  You  are  reported  to  have  used,  in  a  public  communication 
on  this  subject,  the  following  language : 

" '  It  gave  me  pain  when  I  learned  that  Mr.  Vallandigham 
had  been  arrested  — that  is,  I  was  pained  that  there  should 
have  seemed  to  be  a  necessity  for  arresting  him ;  and  that  it 
will  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  discharge  him  so  soon  as  I  can 
by  any  means  believe  the  public  safety  will  not  suffer  by  it/ 

"  The  undersigned  assure  your  Excellency,  from  our  per 
sonal  knowledge  of  the  feelings  of  the  people  of  Ohio,  that 
the  public  safety  will  be  far  more  endangered  by  continuing 
Mr.  Vallandigham  in  exile  than  by  releasing  him.  It  may 
be  true  that  persons  differing  from  him  in  political  views  may 
be  found  in  Ohio,  and  elsewhere,  who  will  express  a  different 
opinion ;  but  they  are  certainly  mistaken. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  may  differ  with  the  President,  and 
erven  with  some  of  his  own  political  party,  as  to  the  true  and 
most  effectual  means  of  maintaining  the  Constitution  and  re 
storing  the  Union ;  but  this  difference  of  opinion  does  not 
prove  him  to  be  unfaithful  to  his  duties  as  an  American  citizen. 
If  a  man,  devotedly  attached  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union,  conscientiously  believes  that,  from  the  inherent  nature 
of  the  Federal  compact,  the  war,  in  the  present  condition  of 
things  in  this  country,  can  not  be  used  as  a  means  of  restoring 
the  Union  ;  or  that  a  war  to  subjugate  a  part  of  the  States,  or 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  307 

a  war  to  revolutionise  the  social  system  in  a  part  of  the  States, 
could  not  restore,  but  would  inevitably  result  in  the  final  des 
truction  of  both  the  Constitution  and  the  Union — is  he  not  to 
be  allowed  the  right  of  an  American  citizen  to  appeal  to  the 
judgment  of  the  people  for  a  change  of  policy  by  the  constitu 
tional  remedy  of  the  ballot-box? 

"  During  the  war  with  Mexico  many  of  the  political  oppo 
nents  of  the  Administration  then  in  power  thought  it  their 
duty  to  oppose  and  denounce  the  war,  and  to  urge  before  the 
people  of  the  country  that  it  was  unjust  and  prosecuted  for 
unholy  purposes.  With  equal  reason  it  might  have  been  said 
of  them  that  their  discussions  before  the  people  were  calculated 
to  '  discourage  enlistments/  '  to  prevent  the  raising  of  troops/ 
and  to  '  induce  desertions  from  the  army/  and  '  leave  the  Gov 
ernment  without  an  adequate  military  force  to  carry  on  the 
war/ 

"  If  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  are  to  be  sus 
pended  in  time  of  war,  then  the  essential  element  of  popular 
government  to  effect  a  change  of  policy  in  the  constitutional 
mode  is  at  an  end.  The  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  is 
indispensable,  and  necessarily  incident  to  the  nature  of  popular 
government  itself.  If  any  inconvenience  or  evils  arise  from 
its  exercise,  they  are  unavoidable. 

"  On  this  subject  you  are  reported  to  have  said,  further : 

" '  It  is  asserted,  in  substance,  that  Mr.  Yallandigham  was 
by  a  military  commander  seized  and  tried  for  no  other  reason 
than  words  addressed  to  a  public  meeting  in  criticism  of  the 
course  of  the  Administration,  and  in  condemnation  of  the  mil 
itary  order  of  the  General.  Now,  if  there  be  no  mistake  about 
this  —  if  there  was  no  other  reason  for  the  arrest  —  then  I 
concede  that  the  arrest  was  wrong.  But  the  arrest,  I  under 
stand,  was  made  for  a  very  different  reason.  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham  avows  his  hostility  to  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  Union ; 
and  his  arrest  was  made  because  he  was  laboring  with  some 
effect  to  prevent  the  raising  of  troops,  to  encourage  desertions 
in  the  army,  and  to  leave  the  rebellion  without  an  adequate 
military  force  to  suppress  it.  He  was  not  arrested  because  he 
was  damaging  the  political  prospects  of  the  Administration, 
or  the  personal  interest  of  the  Commanding  General,  but  be 
cause  he  was  damaging  the  army,  upon  the  existence  and  vigor 
of  which  the  life  of  the  nation  depends.  He  was  warring 


308  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

upon  the  military,  and  this  gave  the  military  constitutional 
jurisdiction  to  lay  hands  upon  him.  If  Mr.  Vallandighain  was 
not  damaging  the  military  power  of  the  country,  then  his 
arrest  was  made  on  a  mistake  of  facts,  which  I  would  be  glad 
to  correct  on  reasonable  satisfactory  evidence.7 

"In  answer  to  this,  permit  us  to  say,  first,  that  neither  the 
charge,  nor  the  specifications  in  support  of  the  charge  on  which 
Mr.  Vallandigham  was  tried,  impute  to  him  the  act  of  either 
laboring  to  prevent  the  raising  of  troops,  or  to  encourage  de 
sertions  from  the  army.  Secondly,  no  evidence  on  the  trial 
was  offered  with  a  view  to  support,  or  even  tended  to  support, 
any  such  charge.  In  wrhat  instance  and  by  what  act  did  he 
either  discourage  enlistments  or  encourage  desertions  from  the 
army  ?  Who  is  the  man  who  was  discouraged  from  enlisting, 
and  who  was  encouraged  to  desert,  by  any  act  of  Mr.  Vallan 
digham  ?  If  it  be  assumed  that  perchance  some  person  might 
have  been  discouraged  from  enlisting,  or  that  some  person 
might  have  been  encouraged  to  desert  on  account  of  hearing 
Mr.  Vallandigham's  views  as  to  the  policy  of  the  war  as  a 
means  of  restoring  the  Union,  would  that  have  laid  the  foun 
dation  for  his  conviction  and  banishment?  If  so,  upon  the 
same  grounds  every  political  opponent  of  the  Mexican  War 
might  have  been  convicted  and  banished  from  the  country. 

"  When  gentlemen  of  high  standing  and  extensive  influ 
ence,  including  your  Excellency,  opposed  in  the  discussions  be 
fore  the  people  the  policy  of  the  Mexican  War,  were  they 
1  warring  upon  the  military/  and  did  this  '  give  the  military 
constitutional  jurisdiction  to  lay  hands  upon'  them?  And 
finally,  the  charge  in  the  specifications  upon  which  Mr.  Val 
landigham  was  tried,  entitled  him  to  a  trial  before  the  civil 
tribunals,  according  to  the  express  provisions  of  the  late  Acts 
of  Congress,  approved  by  yourself,  of  July  17,  1862,  and 
March  3,  1863,  which  were  manifestly  designed  to  supersede 
all  necessity  or  pretext  for  arbitrary  military  arrests. 

"  The  undersigned  are  unable  to  agree  with  you  in  the 
opinion  you  have  expressed,  that  the  Constitution  is  different 
in  time  of  insurrection  or  invasion  from  what  it  is  in  time  of 
peace  and  public  security.  The  Constitution  provides  for  no 
limitation  upon,  or  exceptions  to,  the  guarantees  of  personal 
liberty,  except  as  to  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Has  the  Pres 
ident,  at  the  time  of  invasion  or  insurrection,  the  right  to  en- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  309 

graft  limitations  or  exceptions  upon  these  constitutional  guar 
antees  whenever,  in  his  judgement,  the  public  safety  requires 
it? 

"  True  it  is,  the  article  of  the  Constitution  which  defines 
the  various  powers  delegated  to  Congress,  declares  that  the 
'  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended 
unless  where,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety 
may  require  it.'  But  this  qualification  or  limitation  upon  this 
restriction  upon  the  powers  of  Congress  has  no  reference  to,  or 
connection  with,  the  other  constitutional  guarantees  of  personal 
liberty.  Expunge  from  the  Constitution  this  limitation  upon 
the  power  of  Congress  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus, 
and  yet  the  other  guarantees  of  personal  liberty  would  remain 
unchanged. 

"Although  a  man  might  not  have"  a  constitutional  right  to 
have  an  immediate  investigation  made  as  to  the  legality  of  his 
arrest  upon  habeas  corpus,  yet  his  '  right  to  a  speedy  and  public 
trial  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  District  wherein  the 
crime  shall  have  been  committed/  will  not  be  altered ;  neither 
will  his  right  to  the  exemption  from  (  cruel  and  unusual  pun 
ishments;'  nor  his  right  to  be  secure  in  his  person,  houses, 
papers  and  effects  against  any  unreasonable  seizures  and 
searches  ;  nor  his  right  to  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  pro 
perty,  without  due  process  of  law ;  nor  his  right  not  to  be  held 
to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infamous  offence  unless  on 
presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  be  in  anywise 
changed. 

"  And  certainly  the  restriction  upon  the  power  of  Congress 
to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  time  of  insurrection  or 
invasion,  could  not  affect  the  guarantee  that  the  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  shall  not  be  abridged.  It  is  sometimes 
urged  that  the  proceedings  in  the  civil  tribunals  are  too  tardy 
and  ineffective  for  cases  arising  in  times  of  insurrection  or 
invasion.  It  is  a  full  reply  to  this  to  say,  that  arrests  by  civil 
process  may  be  equally  as  expeditious  and  effective  as  arrests 
by  military  orders. 

"  True,  a  summary  trial  and  punishment  are  not  allowed  in 
the  civil  courts.  But  if  the  offender  be  under  arrest  and 
imprisoned,  and  not  entitled  to  a  discharge  under  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  before  trial,  what  more  can  be  required  for  the 
purposes  of  the  Government  ?  .  The  idea  that  all  the  constitu- 


310  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

tional  guarantees  of  personal  liberty  are  suspended  throughout 
the  country  at  a  time  of  insurrection  or  invasion  in  any  part 
of  it,  places  us  upon  a  sea  of  uncertainty,  and  subjects  the  life, 
liberty  and  property  of  every  citizen  to  the  mere  will  of  a  mil 
itary  commander,  or  what  he  may  say  he  considers  the  public 
safety  requires.  Does  your  Excellency  wish  to  have  it  under 
stood  that  you  hold  that  the  rights  of  every  man  throughout 
this  vast  country  are  subject  to  be  annulled  whenever  you  may 
say  that  you  consider  the  public  safety  requires  it,  in  time  of 
invasion  or  insurrection  ?  You  are  further  reported  as  having 
said  that  the  constitutional  guarantees  of  personal  liberty  have 
'  no  application  to  the  present  case  we  have  in  hand,  because 
the  arrests  complained  of  were  not  made  for  treason  —  that  is, 
not  for  the  treason  defined  in  the  Constitution,  and  upon  the 
conviction  of  which  the  'punishment  is  death  —  nor  yet  were 
they  made  to  hold  persons  to  answer  for  capital  or  otherwise 
infamous  crime ;  nor  were  the  proceedings  following  in  any 
constitutional  or  criminaj  sense  legal  prosecutions.  The  arrests 
were  made  on  totally  different  grounds,  and  the  proceedings  fol 
lowing  accorded  with  the  grounds  of  the  arrests/  &c.  The 
conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  this  position  of  your  Excellency 
is,  that  where  a  man  is  liable  to  a  '  criminal  prosecution/  or  is 
charged  with  a  crime  known  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  he  is 
clothed  with  all  the  constitutional  guarantees  for  his  safety  and 
security  from  wrong  and  injustice  ;  but  where  he  is  not  liable 
to  a  l  criminal  prosecution/  or  charged  with  any  crime  known 
to  the  laws,  if  the  President  or  any  military  commander  shall 
say  that  he  considers  that  the  public  safety  requires  it,  this  man 
may  be  put  outside  of  the  pale  of  the  constitutional  guaran 
tees,  and  arrested  without  charge  of  crime,  imprisoned  without 
knowledge  what  for,  and  any  length  of  time,  or  be  tried  before 
a  court-martial  and  sentenced  to  any  kind  of  punishment 
unknown  to  the  laws  of  the  land  which  the  President  or  the 
military  commander  may  see  proper  to  impose. 

"Did  the  Constitution  intend  to  throw  the  shield  of  its 
securities  around  the  man  liable  to  be  charged  with  treason  as 
defined  by  it,  and  yet  leave  the  man  not  liable  to  any  such 
charge  unprotected  by  the  safeguard  of  personal  liberty  and 
personal  security?  Can  a  man  not  in  the  military  or  naval 
service,  nor  within  the  field  of  the  operations  of  the  army,  be 
arrested  and  imprisoned  without  any  law  of  the  land  to  author- 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.     VALLANDIGHAM.  311 

ise  it  ?  Can  a  man  thus  in  civil  life  be  punished  without  any 
law  denning  the  offence  and  prescribing  the  punishment  ?  If 
the  President  or  a  court-martial  may  prescribe  one  kind  of  pun 
ishment  unauthorised  by  law,  why  not  any  other  kind  ?  Ban 
ishment  is  an  unusual  punishment,  and  unknown  to  our  laws. 
If  the  President  has  the  right  to  prescribe  the  punishment  of 
banishment,  why  not  that  of  death  and  confiscation  of  property  ? 
If  the  President  has  the  right  to  change  the  punishment  pre 
scribed  by  the  court-martial  from  imprisonment  to  banishment, 
why  not  from  imprisonment  to  torture  upon  the  rack,  or  exe 
cution  upon  the  gibbet  ? 

"  If  an  indefinable  kind  of  constructive  treason  is  to  be  in 
troduced  and  engrafted  upon  the  Constitution,  unknown  to  the 
laws  of  the  land,  and  subject  to  the  will  of  the  President  when 
ever  an  insurrection  or  invasion  shall  occur  in  any  part  of  this 
vast  country,  what  safety  or  security  will  be  left  for  the  liber 
ties  of  the  people  ? 

"  The  i  constructive  treason J  that  gave  the  friends  of  free 
dom  so  many  years  of  toil  and  trouble  in  England,  was  in 
considerable  compared  to  this;  The  precedents  which  you 
make  will  become  a  part  of  the  Constitution  for  your  succes 
sors,  if  sanctioned  and  acquiesced  in  by  the  people  now. 

"The  people  of  Ohio  are  willing  to  co-operate  zealously 
with  you  in  every  effort  warranted  by  the  Constitution  to 
restore  the  Union  of  the  States,  but  they  cannot  consent  to  aban 
don  those  fundamental  principles  of  civil  liberty  which  are 
essential  to  their  existence  as  a  free  people. 

"  In  their  name  we  ask  that,  by  a  revocation  of  the  order 
of  his  banishment,  Mr.  Vallandigham  may  be  restored  to  the 
enjoyment  of  those  rights  of  ^vhich  they  believe  he  has  been 
unconstitutional  ly  deprived. 

"  We  have  the  honor  to  be 

"Respectfully "yours,  &c. 

41 M.  BIRCHARD,  Chair'n,  19th  Dist.  JAS.  R.  MORRIS,  15th  Dist. 

DAVID  A.  HOUK,  Sec'y,  3d  Dist,  GEO.  S.  CONVERSE,  7th  Dist 

GEO.  BLISS,  14th  Dist.  WARREN  P.  NOBLE,  9th  Dist. 

T.  W.  BARTLEY,  8th  Dist,  GEO.  H.  PENDLETON,  1st  Dist. 

W.  J.  GORDON,  18th  Dist.  W.  A.  HUTCHINS,  llth  Dist. 

JOHN  O'NEILL,  13th  Dist.  ABNER  L.  BACKUS,  10th  Dist. 

C.  A.  WHITE,  6th  Dist.  J.  F.  McKiNNEY,  4th  Dist. 

W.  E.  FINCK,  12th  Dist.  L.  C.  LEBLOND,  5th  Dist. 

ALEXANDER  LONG,  3d  Dist.  Louis  SCH^FER,  17th  Dist." 
J.  W.  WHITE,  16lh  Dist. 


312  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

A  similar  committee  was  appointed  by  the  Albany  meeting, 
who  presented  to  the  President  resolutions  and  a  letter  of  like 
import  with  the  above.  To  both  committees  Mr.  Lincoln 
returned  separate  replies  in  writing,  justifying  the  outrage,  and 
insisting  gravely  upon  his  constitutional  right  to  commit  and 
repeat  it.  In  these  extraordinary  letters  he  maintained  the 
whole  doctrine  of  "  military  necessity,"  insisting  that  the  Con 
stitution  in  time  of  war  varied  "  in  its  application  "  from  the 
Constitution  in  time  of  peace,  so  that  its  limitations  upon 
power,  and  the  rights  secured  by  it  to  the  States  and  the  people, 
ceased,  in  cases  of  rebellion  and  invasion  involving  the  public 
safety,  to  be  applicable,  and  that  "  the  man  whom  for  the  time 
the  people  had  under  the  Constitution  made  the  Commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  was  the  man"  who  was  tq 
decide*  when  the  public  safety  was  involved,  and  what  in  that 
case  ought  to  be  done.  He  went  further,  and  forgetting  his 
high  position  as  President,  resorted  to  subterfuge  and  prevari 
cation  in  order  to  justify  the  particular  act  of  which  the  com 
mittees  complained.  Wholly  ignoring  the. " charge  and  speci 
fication"  upon  which  alone  Mr.  Yallandigham  had  been 
arrested  and  subjected  to  trial  by  the  military  commission,  and 
conceding  in  so  many  words  that  if  the  arrest  were  made  for 
language  addressed  to  a  public  meeting  in  criticism  of  the 
Administration,  or  in  condemnation  of  the  military  order  of 
the  General,  "  it  was  wrong,"  he  did  not  scruple  to  assert  that 
Mr.  Vallandigham  was  arrested  "  because  he  was  laboring  with 
some  effect  to  prevent  the  raising  of  troops,  to  encourage  deser 
tions  from  the  army,  and  to  leave  the  rebellion  without  an 
adequate  military  force  to  suppress  it."  No  such  charge  had 
been  •  referred  against  him,  and  it  was  without  the  slightest 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  313 

foundation  in  truth.  He  further  charged  Mr.  Vallandigham 
with  being  in  complicity  with  armed  combinations  to  resist  the 
conscription 'and  the  arrest  of  deserters,  and  with  numerous  acts 
of  assassination  that  had  been  committed  —  overt  acts  of  crime, 
easy  of  proof  if  true,  yet  constituting  no  part  of  the  charge 
and  specification  before  the  military  commission.  "With  a 
knowledge  too  that  Mr.  Vallandigham's  speeches,  including 
the  very  one  for  which  ostensibly  he  had  been  arrested,  were 
full  of  injunctions  to  obey  all  laws  and  to  respect  all  rightful 
authority,  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  hesitate  to  add  that  with  all 
these  acts  of  violence  and  resistance  "  staring  him  in  the  face, 
he  [Mr.  V.]  had  never  uttered  a  word  of  rebuke  or  counsel 
against  them."  Yet  after  all  these  assertions  he  declared  in 
his  reply  to  the  Albany  committee,  and  repeated  it  in  his  letter 
to  the  committee  from  Ohio,  that  Mr.  Vallandigham's  arrest 
"  had  been  for  prevention,  and  not  for  punishment ;  not  so  much 
for  what  had  been  done,  as  for  what  probably  would  be  done." 
He  concluded  his  letter  to  the  Ohio  committee  with  an  offer  to 
revoke  the  order  of  banishment,  upon  the  condition  that  the 
several  members  of  the  committee  should  bind  themselves  to 
certain  propositions  in  writing  submitted  by  him,  which  implied 
nothing  less  than  support  of  the  war  and  indorsement  of  the 
Administration ;  but  he  added  with  despotic  insolence,  that  "  in 
regard  to  Mr.  Vallandigham  and  all  others,  he  would  here 
after  as  heretofore,  do  so  much  as  the  public  safety  might  seem 
to  require."  To  the  propositions  thus  made,  the  committee 
replied  that  they  "  were  not  authorised  to  enter  into  any  bar 
gains,  terms,  contracts,  or  conditions  with  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  procure  the  release  of  Mr.  Vallandigham." 
The  entire  correspondence  was  conducted  on  the  part  of  both 
committees  with  great  dignity  and  consummate  ability. 


314  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

• 
111  the  meantime  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  on  his  way  from 

the  South  to  Canada,  which,  before  leaving  Cincinnati,  he  had 
resolved  to  reach  at  the  earliest  moment ;  and  in  case  he  found 
blockade-running  from  the  eastern  ports  impracticable  or  too 
hazardous,  then  to  cross  the  Mississippi  and  make  his  way 
through  Texas  to  Matamoras,  and  thence  by  steamer  to  Ha 
vana  and  Halifax.  But  at  that  time  vessels  were  running  to 
and  from  Wilmington  almost  with  the  regularity  of  packets ; 
and  after  a  sojourn  there  of  a  few  days,  he  took  passage  on  the 
steamer  Cornubia,  Captain  Gayle,  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
17th  of  June  ran  out  in  safety  through  the  blockading 
squadron,  and  arrived  in  Bermuda  on  the  20th.  The  follow 
ing  incident  occurred  on  the  passage.  Ono  morning  a  steam 
ship  hove  in  sight  and  bore  down  upon  the  vessel  on  which  he 
had  embarked.  On  nearer  approach  it  was  apparent  that  it 
was  a  United  States  man-of-war.  On  board  the  vessel  there 
was  great  alarm,  for  not  only  had  the  Captain  many  things 
which  were  contraband  of  war,  but  also  as  passengers  several 
Southern  officers  and  Confederate  agents  who  no  doubt  had 
important  papers  with  them.  It  was  soon  evident  that  the 
war  steamer  was  the  faster  sailer,  and  visions  of  imprisonment 
for  himself  and  confiscation  of  his  vessel  filled  the  mind  of  the 
Captain.  Most  of  the  passengers  were  equally  alarmed.  The 
Captain  rushed  into  the  cabin  to  consult  Mr.  Vallandigham. 
Mr.  V.  inquired  whether  he  had  any  British  uniforms  on 
board,  and  being  informed  that  he  had,  suggested  that  he 
should  clothe  as  many  of  his  men  as  possible  in  these  uniforms, 
and  parade  them  up  and  down  on  deck,  so  as  to  produce  the 
impression  that  his  steamer  was  an  English  transport  with 
troops  aboard.  The  experiment  was  immediately  tried  and 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  315 

succeeded  to  a  charm.  The  Captain  of  the  American  ship, 
perceiving  the  brilliant  scarlet  of  the  British  army,  and  taking 
it  for  granted  that  the  vessel  was  loaded  with  troops  from 
England  destined  for  some  part  of  the  British  possessions, 
tacked  and  bore  away,  much  to  the  relief  of  the  Captain  of  the 
blockade-runner  and  most  of  his  passengers.  A  false  and 
ridiculous  account  of  this  affair  was  published  by  the  enemies 
of  Mr.  Vallandigham  several  years  afterwards,  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  he  was  greatly  alarmed  on  that  occasion,  and  so 
overjoyed  at  his  escape  from  capture  that  he  shed  tears  and 
clasped  the  Captain  of  the  vessel  in  warm  embrace.  There 
was  not  a  word  of  truth  in  this.  A  moment's  reflection  will 
show  its  absurdity.  Mr.  Vallaiidigham  had  no  cause  for 
alarm ;  his  sentence  was  that  he  should  be  imprisoned  if  he 
came  within  the  Federal  lines,  otherwise  he  was  to  be  unmo 
lested.  His  being  found  in  a  vessel  going  to  Canada  would 
not  render  him  liable  to  any  punishment.  As  to  the  story  of 
childish  joy  at  his*  escape  and  the  ridiculous  mode  of  exhibit 
ing  it,  no  one  acquainted  with  his  perfect  coolness  in  circum 
stances  the  most  exciting  will  be  so  credulous  as  to  believe  it. 
His  capture  would  have  resulted  only  in  annoyance  and  tem 
porary  delay  in  reaching  his  place  of  destination. 

In  Bermuda  he  spent  ten  days  very  pleasantly,  and  then 
by  steamer  went  to  Halifax,  landing  on  the  5th  of  July.  From 
Halifax  by  way  of  Truro  he  travelled  to  Pictou,  and  thence  by 
steamer  up  the  Gulf  and  river  Saint  Lawrence  to  Quebec, 
where,  as  in  Bermuda  and  at  Halifax,  he  was  cordially  and 
honorably  received.  A  correspondent  of  a  New  York  paper, 
writing  from  Montreal,  July  14,  says :  "  As  soon  as  it  was 
known  that  Mr.  Yallandigham  was  in  Canada,  Englishmen, 


316  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    V  ALL  AN  DIG-HAM. 

Scotchmen,  and  Irishmen,  who,  as  the  sons  of  men  that  for  five 
hundred  years  fought  for  the  trial  by  jury,  knew  the  value 
of  Magna  Charta  and  of  Habeas  Corpus,  and  of  the  Petition 
of  Eight,  met  almost  spontaneously  to  bear  tribute  to  him  in 
whose  person  these  three  great  bulwarks  of  British  liberty  had 
been  violated."  At  the  Club  House  he  was  tendered  and  ac 
cepted  a  very  handsome  entertainment,  at  which  he  met  a 
number  of  the  most  distinguished  gentlemen  of  Canada.  The 
speech  he  made  on  that  occasion  is  thus  referred  to  by  the  same 
correspondent : — 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham.  confined  his  remarks  to  general  prin 
ciples  of  liberty,  law,  Magna  Charta,  Habeas  Corpus,  with 
out  any  personal  applications  to  his  own  case,  and  dwelt  upon 
how  much  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  were  guided  by  the 
British  Barons  of  Runnymede,  my  Lord  Coke,  the  extorters 
of  the  Right  of  Petition  from  King  Charles,  the  persevering 
energy  that  drew  out  that  British  writ  of  liberty,  the  Habeas 
Corpus,  &c.  His  remarks  were  admirable,  and  did  honor  to 
the  American  name.  The  people  wrere  urgent  that  the  demon 
stration  should  be  public,  but  Mr.  Vallandigham  would  not 
consent  to  it.  All  Canada  would  have  turned  out  if  there  had 
been  time,  to  testify  through  him  to  Magna  Charta  and  Habeas 
Corpus.  At  11  P.  M.  he  went  off  in  an  extra  train  which 
Mr.  Bridges  had  provided  for  him. 

"Our  Montreal  gentlemen  were  delighted  with  Mr.  Val- 
landigham's  understanding  and  comprehension  of  the  great 
struggles  we  had  in  England  to  preserve  British  liberty,  and 
which  had  cost  our  fathers  two  revolutions,  one  of  blood  and 
one  of  peace,  in  which  we  had  dethroned  a  king  and  then  a 
queen.  One  of  the  speakers,  Mr.  R ,  said,  in  compli 
ment,  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Mr.  Vallandigham  would  fully 
repay  his  voyage  across  the  Atlantic." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  arrived  at  Niagara  Falls,  Canada  West, 
on  the  15th  of  July,  and  stopped  at  the  Clifton  House.  The 
folloAving  account  of  his  arrival  is  given  by  a  correspondent  of 
the  Chicago  Times : — 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  317 

"  CLIFTON  HOUSE,  NIAGARA  FALLS,  C.  W., 
July  16,  1863. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  arrived  here  yesterday  morning.  The 
appearance  of  his  name  upon  the  register  caused  the  most  in 
tense  excitement  among  the  guests.  The  news  of  his  arrival 
spread  rapidly  in  the  vicinity,  and  during  yesterday  and  to-day 
hundreds  of  visitors  called  to  pay  their  respects  to  him. 
Several  parties  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  have  come  over  from 
the  American  shore. 

"  The  mighty  cataract  and  the  grand  mountain  scenery  are 
forgotten,  the  delightful  drives  are  abandoned.  The  exiled 
statesman  is  the  absorbing  subject  of  interest  and  considera 
tion.  Eager  groups,  anxious  to  learn  every  particular  of  his 
eventful  career,  collect  around  the  favored  few  who  have  been 
honored  with  personal  interviews  with  the  foremost  man  of  the 
age.  Crowds  press  upon  him  whenever  his  presence  is  acces 
sible,  to  congratulate  him  upon  his  sublime  moral  achieve 
ments  and  political  prospects.  i 

(f  His  manners  are  modest  and  unassuming.  He  has  a  kind 
word  and  genial  greeting  for  all  his  friends.  Yet  his  manners 
are  not  wanting  in  dignity  befitting  his  position  ;  but  the  dig 
nity  is  blended  with  cordial  suavity,  so  that  while  he  com 
mands  respect  from  every  one,  he  also  excites  a  feeling  akin  to 
love  in  all. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  treated  in  all  respects  as  a  pris 
oner  of  war  in  the  South,  and  permitted  to  depart  on  giving 
his  parole.  He  succeeded  in  running  the  blockade  from  Wil 
mington,  North  Carolina,  about  the  middle  of  June,  in  a  small 
steamer  which  took  him  to  Bermuda.  From  the  latter  place 
he  proceeded  in  a  small  steamer  to  Halifax,  where  he  arrived 
safely  a  few  days  ago,  and  took  passage  up  the  river  St.  Law 
rence  to  Quebec,  whence  he  came  by  rail  to  Clifton. 

"  Hon.  D.  W.  Yoorhees,  of  Indiana,  and  Hon.  Richard  T. 
Merrick,  of  Chicago,  were  among  the  first  to  welcome  him  on 
his  arrival." 


Mr.  Vallandigham  immediately  issued  the  following  ad 
dress  to  the  Democracy  of  Ohio,  accepting  the  nomination  for 
Governor,  and  defining  his  position : — 


318  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  NIAGAKA  FALLS,  CANADA  WEST, 

July  15, 1863. 
"  To  the  Democracy  of  Ohio : 

"Arrested  and  confined  for  three  weeks  in  the  United 
States,  a  prisoner  of  State ;  banished  thence  to  the  Confederate 
States,  and  there  held  as  an  alien  enemy  and  prisoner  of  war, 
though  on  parole,  fairly  and  honorably  dealt  with  and  given 
leave  to  depart, —  an  act  possible  only  by  running  the  block 
ade  at  the  hazard  of  being  fired  on  by  ships  flying  the  flag  of 
my  own  country, —  I  found  myself  first  a  freeman  when  011 
British  soil.  And  to-day,  under  protection  of  the  British  flag, 
I  am  here  to  enjoy,  and  in  part  to  exercise,  the  privileges  and 
rights  which  usurpers  insolently  deny  me  at  home.  The  shal 
low  contrivance  of  the  weak  despots  at  Washington,  and  their 
advisers,  has  been  defeated.  Nay,  it  has  been  turned  against 
them ;  and  I,  who  for  two  years  was  maligned  as  in  secret 
league  with  the  Confederates,  having  refused  when  in  their 
midst,  under  circumstances  the  most  favorable,  either  to  iden 
tify  myself  with  their  cause  or  even  so  much  as  to  remain, 
preferring  rather  exile  in  a  foreign  land,  return  now  with  alle 
giance  to  my  own  State  and  Government,  unbroken  in  word, 
thought  or  deed,  <md  with  every  declaration  and  pledge  to  you 
while  at  home,  and  before  I  was  stolen  away,  made  good  in 
spirit  and  to  the  very  letter. 

"  Six  weeks  ago,  when  just  going  into  banishment,  because 
an  audacious  but  most  cowardly  despotism  compelled  it,  I  ad 
dressed  you  as  a  fellow-citizen.  To-day,  and  from  the  very 
place  then  selected  by  me,  but  after  wearisome  and  most  peril 
ous  journey  ings  for  more  than  four  thousand  miles  by  land 
and  upon  the  sea  —  still  in  exile,  though  almost  in  sight  of  my' 
native  State  —  I  greet  you  as  your  representative.  Grateful 
certainly  I  am  for  the  confidence  in  my  integrity  and  patriotism 
implied  by  the  unanimous  nomination  as  candidate  for  Gov 
ernor  of  Ohio  which  you  gave  me  while  I  was  yet  in  the  Con 
federate  States.  It  was  not  misplaced;  it  shall  never  be 
abused.  But  this  ia  the  least  of  all  considerations  in  times 
like  these.  I.  ask  no  persona]  sympathy  for  the  personal 
wrong.  No,  it  is  the  cause  of  constitutional  liberty  and  private 
right  cruelly  outraged  beyond  example  in  a  free  country,  by 
the  President  and  his  servants,  which  gives  public  significancy 
to  the  action  of  your  convention.  Yours  was  indeed  an  act  of 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  319 

justice  to  a  citizen  who  for  his  devotion  to  the  rights  of  the 
States  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  had  been  marked  for 
destruction  by  the  hand  of  arbitrary  power.  But  it  was  much 
more.  It  was  an  act  of  courage  worthy  of  the  heroic  ages  of 
the  world ;  and  it  was  a  spectacle  and  a  rebuke  to  the  usurping 
tyrants  who,  having  broken  up  the  Union,  would  now  strike 
down  the  Constitution,  subvert  your  present  Government,  and 
establish  a  formal^ and  proclaimed  despotism  in  its  stead.  You 
are  the  RESTORERS  AND  DEFENDERS  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL 
LIBERTY,  and  by  that  proud  title  history  will  salute  you. 

"  I  congratulate  you  upon  your  nominations.  They  whom  you , 
have  placed  upon  the  ticket  with  me  are  gentlemen  of  character, 
integrity,  ability,  and  of  tried  fidelity  to  the  Constitution,  the 
Union,  and  to  liberty.  Their  moral  and  political  courage  —  a 
quality  always  rare,  and  now  the  most  valuable  of  public  vir 
tues —  is  beyond  question.  Every  way,  all  these  were  nomina 
tions  fit  to  be  made.  And  even  jealousy  I  am  sure  will  now 
be  hushed,  if  I  especially  rejoice  with  you  in  the  nomination 
of  Mr.  Pugh  as  your  candidate  for  Lieutenant-Governor  and 
President  of  the  Senate.  A  scholar  and  a  gentleman,  a  soldier 
in  a  foreign  Avar,  and  always  a  patriot ;  eminent  as  a  lawyer, 
and  distinguished  as  an  orator  and  a  statesman,  I  hail  his 
acceptance  as  an  omen  of  the  return  of  the  better  and  more 
virtuous  days  of  the  Republic. 

"  I  endorse  your  noble  platform  —  elegant  in  style,  admir 
able  in  sentiment.  You  present  the  true  issue,  and  commit 
yourselves  to  the  great  mission  just  now  of  the  Democratic 
party  —  to  restore  and  make  sure  first  the  rights  and  liberties 
declared  yours  by  your  Constitutions.  It  is  in  vain  to  invite  the 
States  and  people  of  the  South  to  return  to  a  Union  without  a 
Constitution,  and  dishonored  and  polluted  by  repeated  and  most 
aggravated  exertions  of  tyrannic  power.  It  is  base  in  your 
selves,  and  treasonable  to  your  posterity,  to  surrender  these 
liberties  and  rights  to  the  creatures  whom  your  own  breath 
created  and  can  destroy.  Shall  there  be  free  speech,  a  free 
press,  peaceable  assemblages  of  the  people,  and  a  free  ballot 
any  longer  in  Ohio  ?  Shall  the  people  hereafter,  as  hitherto, 
have  the  right  to  discuss  and  condemn  the  principles  and 
policy  of  the  party — the  ministry —  the  men  who  for  the  time 
conduct  the  Government, —  to  demand  of  their  public  servants 
a  reckoning  of  their  stewardship,  and  to  place  other  men  and 


320  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

another  party  in  power  at  their  supreme  will  and  pleasure? 
Shall  Order  Thirty-eight  or  the  Constitution  be  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land  ?  And  shall  the  citizen  any  more  be  arrested 
by  an  armed  soldiery  at  midnight,  dragged  fiom  wife  and  child 
and  home  to«a  military  prison ;  thence  to  a  mock  militaiy  trial; 
there  condemned,  and  then  banished  as  a  felon  for  the  exercies 
of  his  rights  ?  This  is  the  issue :  you  have  nobly  met  it.  It  is 
the  very  question  of  free,  popular  government  itself.  It  is  the 
whole  question :  upon  one  side  liberty,  on  the  other  despotism. 
The  President,  as  the-  recognised  head  of  his  party,  accepts  the 
issue.  "Whatever  he  wills,  that  is  law.  Constitutions,  State 
and  Federal,  are  nothing ;  acts  of  legislation  nothing  ; '  the 
judiciary  less  than  nothing.  In  time  of  war  there  is  but  one 
will  supreme  —  his  will;  but  one  law  —  military  necessity, 
and  he  the  sole  judge.  Military  orders  supersede  the  Consti 
tution,  and  military  commissions  usurp  the  places  of  the  ordi 
nary  courts  of  justice  in  the  land.  Nor  are  these  mere  idle 
claims.  For  two  years  and  more,  by  arms  they  have  been 
enforced.  It  was  the  mission  of  the  weak  but  presumptuous 
Burnside  —  a  name  infamous  forever  in  the  ears  of  all  lovers 
of  constitutional  liberty — to  try  the  experiment  in  Ohio,  aided 
by  a  Judge  whom  I  name  not,  because  he  has  brought  foul 
dishonor  upon  the  judiciary  of  my  country.  In  youi  hands 
now,  men  of  Ohio,  is  the  final  issue  of  the  experiment.  The 
party  of  the  Administration  have  accepted  it.  By  pledging 
support  to  the  President,  they  have  justified  his  outrages  upon 
liberty  and  the  Constitution ;  and  whoever  gives  his  vote  for 
the  candidates  of  that  party  commits  himself  to  every  act  of 
violence  and  wrong  on  the  part  of  the  Administration  which  he 
upholds ;  and  thus,  by  the  law  of  retaliation,  which  is  the  law  of 
might,  would  fairly  forfeit  his  own  right  to  liberty,  personal  and 
political,  whensoever  other  men  and  another  party  shall  hold 
the  power.  Much  more  do  the  candidates  themselves.  Suffer 
them  not,  I  entreat  you,  to  vade  the  issue ;  and  by  the  judg 
ment  of  the  people  we  will  abide. 

"And  now,  finally,  let  me  ask:  what  is  the  pretext  for  all 
the  monstrous  acts  and  claims  of  arbitrary  power  which  you 
have  so  boldly  and  nobly  denounced  ?  *  Military  necessity/ 
But  if,  indeed,  all  these  be  demanded  by  military  necessity, 
then,  believe  me,  your  liberties  are  gone,  and  tyranny  is  per 
petual.  For,  if  this  civil  war  is  to  terminate  only  by  the  sub- 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGKEAM.  321 

jugation  or  submission  of  the  South  to  force  of  arms,  the  in 
fant  of  to-day  will  not  live  to  see  the  end  of  it.  No,  in 
another  way  only  can  it  be  brought  to  a  close.  Travelling  a 
thousand  miles  and  more  through  nearly  one-half  of  the  Con 
federate  States,  and  sojourning  for  a  time  at  widely  different 
points,  I  met  not  one  man,  woman  or  child  who  was  not 
resolved  to  perish  rather  than  yield  to  the  pressure  of  arms, 
even  in  the  most  desperate  extremity.  And  whatever  may  and 
must  be  the  varying  fortune  of  the  war,  in  all  which  I  recog 
nise  the  hand  of  Providence  pointing  visibly  to  the  ultimate 
issue  of  this  great  trial  of  the  States  and  people  of  America, 
they  are  better  prepared  now  every  way  to  make  good  their 
inexorable  purpose  than  at  any  period  since  the  beginning  of 
the  struggle.  These  may,  indeed,  be  unwelcome  truths,  but 
they  are  addressed  only  to  candid  and  honest  men.  Neither, 
however,  let  me  add,  did  I  meet  any  one,  whatever  his  opinions 
or  his  station,  political  or  private,  who  did  not  declare  his  readi 
ness,  when  the  war  shall  have  ceased  and  invading  armies  been 
withdrawn,  to  consider  and  discuss  the  question  of  reunion. 
And  who  shall  doubt  the  issue  of  the  argument  ?  I  return, 
therefore,  with  my  opinions  and  convictions  as  to  war  and 
peace,  and  my  faith  as  to  final  results  from  sound  policy  and 
wise  statesmanship,  not  only  unchanged,  but  confirmed  and 
strengthened.  And  may  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth  so  rule 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  Americans  everywhere  that  a  Consti 
tution  maintained,  a  Union  restored,  and  liberty  henceforth 
made  secure,  a  grander  and  nobler  destiny  shall  yet  be  ours 
than  that  even  which  blessed  our  fathers  in  the  first  two  ages 
of  the  Republic. 

*'  C.  L.  VALLAKDIGHAM." 

This  address  was  received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm,  and 
the  campaign  in  Ohio  was  entered  upon  with  a  spirit  and 
energy  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  the  country,  exceeding 
even  the  memorable  campaign  of  1840.  Meetings  were  held 
throughout  the  State,  attended  by  immense  multitudes  of 
people,  and  addressed  by  earnest  and  able  speakers.  From  the 
papers  of  the  times  we  make  the  following  extracts,  illustrating 
the  intense  feeling  that  everywhere  prevailed. 
21 


322  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    "\JALLANDIGHAM. 

[From  the  Crisis,  August  5th.] 
"ROUSING  MEETINGS  EVERYWHERE. 

"  Such  meetings  as  are  now  seen  of  the  Democracy  every 
where  in  this  State  have  never  before  been  witnessed;  were 
not  even  approached  in  the  days  of  the  political  revolution 
of  1840.  At  Bellefontaine,  on  the  29th,  the  throng  swelled 
to  fifteen  thousand.  At  Marysville,  Union  county,  on  Thurs 
day,  some  ten  thousand  were  present;  and  on  Friday,  at  Dela 
ware,  the  concourse  ranged  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand, 
with  thirteen  hundred  vehicles  in  procession,  and  regiments  of 
voters  on  horseback.  The  tide  is  up,  and  grows  with  every 
wave.  The  people  are  awake  to  the  fact  that  their  liberties  are 
assailed,  and  it  devolves  upon  themselves  to  save  them. 

"  At  Circleville,  on  Saturday,  the  meeting  reached  40,000 ! 
as  estimated  by  those  competent  to  judge.  Mr.  Pugh,  Judge 
Green,  and  Mr.  Fink,  addressed  this  vast  crowd,  and  the  enthu 
siasm  and  earnestness  manifested  spoke  of  a  revolution  in 
popular  sentiment  which  would  shake  an  empire  already  pro 
claimed." 

[From  the  same,  August  12th.] 
"  DEMOCRATIC    MEETINGS. 

"  Hereafter  we  will  endeavor  to  give  more  attention  to  an 
account  of  the  various  meetings  in  the  State,  and  the  way  in 
which  the  noble  redemption  of  the  State  from  Abolition  mis 
rule  goes  on.  Those  abroad  may  rest  assured  that  our  speakers 
find  the  people  everywhere  ready  to  meet  them  even  more  than 
half-way.  The  most  intense  earnestness  prevails  in  reference 
to  the  great  cause.  Men's  doubts  give  way  before  the  manifest 
determination  of  the  people  to  assume  full  responsibility  for 
doing  anything  that  becomes  men  and  citizens  to  defend  and 
maintain  the  principles  of  the  Union.  The  time  for  intimida 
tion  has  about  passed.  If  there  are  any  cowards  in  our  ranks, 
they  are  not  at  home.  We  hope  it  is  felt,  and  believe  it  is, 
from  one  extremity  of  the  State  to  the  other,  that  the  triumph 
of  Vallandigham  will  be  the  greatest  ever  achieved  in  the 
name  of  civil  and  individual  freedom.  Feeling  thus,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  at  every  meeting  l  an  avalanche  of  the  people ; 
is  there ! 

"  The  largest  meeting  ever  held  in  Hancock  County  gathered 
at  Finlay  on  the  1st.  Over  14,000  people  were  there,  and 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  323 

were  ably  addressed  by  Hon.  F.  C.  LeBlond,  the  member  of 
Congress  of  that  district,  and  Colonel  Mungen,  in  English, 
and  Judge  Lang  of  Tiffin,  in  German.  They  were  all  able 
and  eloquent  expositions  of  principle,  and  elicited  repeated 
bursts  of  enthusiasm.  The  Democratic  county  convention  met 
the  same  day,  and  nominated  a  most  excellent  ticket.  Probably 
not  a  hundred  were  present  who  lived  outside  of  the  county, 
as  the  notice  was  short,  and  no  half-fare  trains  running. 

"  On  Tuesday,  4th,  the  meeting  at  Troy,  Miami  County, 
was  an  immense  success,  far  surpassing  the  expectations  of  the 
most  sanguine.  Hon.  George  E.  Pugh  and  William  Follet 
were  the  principal  speakers. 

"  On  the  same  day  (4th)  from  three  to  five  thousand  as 
sembled  in  council  at  Toledo.  It  was  at  this  meeting  that  the 
noble  letter  of  the  gallant  Yallandigham  was  read,  amid  the 
most  intense  applause.  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox  addressed  the  out-door 
crowd,  while  Hon.  Mr.  Pendleton  enchained  the  attention  of 
the  packed  audience  in  the  largest  hall  in  the  city.  The 
Brought  meeting  of  two  weeks  previous  was  thrown  entirely  in 
the  shade. 

"At  Kenton,  Hardin  County,  the  meeting  was  an  immense 
affair  —  the  lowest  estimate  being  twenty-five  thousand.  One 
thousand  horsemen  were  in  the  procession  ;  also  two  hundred 
ladies,  adorned  with  scarfs  of  red,  white,  and  blue,  with  the 
names  of  Yallandigham  and  Pugh  on  them.  The  procession 
Avas  seven  miles  in  length,  with  moving  banners  and  forests  of 
hickories.  Two  stands  were  in  full  blast.  The  speakers  were 
Pugh,  Follet,  LeBlond,  Armstrong,  and  Shelby.  An  im 
mense  meeting  was  also  held  at  night. 

"  At  Upper  Sandusky,  on  the  7th,  was  held  the  largest 
meeting  that  ever  met  in  Northern  Ohio.  From  forty  to  fifty 
thousand  were  there.  Twenty-four  large  hickory  poles  had 
been  raised  in  the  town  and  bore  aloft  the  American  flag,  in 
scribed  Vallandigham  and  Pugh,  Free  Speech,  Free  Press, 
Free  Discussion,  the  Constitution  and  Union  forever." 

[From  the  same,  Aug.  19.] 

"GREAT  DEMOCRATIC  DEMONSTRATIONS  IN  OHIO. 

"If  large,  enthusiastic  and  spontaneous  meetings  of  the 
people  are  any  indication  of  public  feeling,  Ohio  would  to 
morrow,  if  an  election  were  held,  give  Mr.  Vallandigham  and 


324  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

the  whole  Democratic  State  Ticket  at  least  thirty  thousand 
majority  on  the  home  vote. 

"  Last  week,  after  our  return  from  Niagara  Falls  and  New 
York,  finding  things  all  right  in  our  office,  we  concluded  to 
take  a  run  up  into  Knox  and  Ashland  Counties,  where  Demo 
cratic  meetings  were  announced,  to  see  how  they  looked  and 
judge  for  ourself  how  the  canvass  was  progressing. 

"  We  arrived  at  Frederick  town,  a  few  miles  north  of  Mt. 
Vernon,  late  in  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday,  and  to  our  utter  sur 
prise  found  an  assemblage  of  from  7,000  to  10,000  people, 
gentlemen  and  ladies.  Such  enthusiasm  we  had  never  before 
witnessed,  and  we  soon  found  ourself  handed  over  the  heads 
of  the  people  to  the  speakers'  stand.  It  made  our  head  fairly 
swim  on  casting  our  eyes  over  the  excited  and  immense  throng 
before  us.  The  meeting  had  already  been  addressed  by  A. 
Banning  Norton,  Esq.,  an  Old  Line  Whig  who  has  joined  the 
Democratic  hosts  in  this  campaign  for  ' personal  liberty;'  by 
Dr.  Olds,  the  Hon.  James  R.  Morris,  and  the  able  and  eloquent 
T.  J.  Kenny,  State  Senator  of  the  Ashland  and  Richland 
District. 

"  Never  before  did  we  see  such  an  interest  taken  in  a  candi 
date  as  is  felt  in  Mr.  Vallandigham.  It  puts  us  very  much 
in  mind  of  the  outburst  for  Kossuth  011  his  arrival  in  this 
country  to  escape  arrest  by  the  Hainaus  of  Austria.  If  Mr. 
Vallandigham  could  be  brought  into  Ohio,  or  any  portion  of 
the  North,  such  demonstrations  of  popular  applause  as  would 
be  witnessed  would  surpass  anything  the  world  ever  saw ! 
Thank  God,  the  spirit  of  liberty  burns  as  brightly  as  ever  in 
the  American  bosom,  and  let  the  American  Hainaus  not  sup 
pose  for  a  moment  that  they  can  suppress  it.  They  can  only 
intensify  it  by  pressure,  and  nothing  more. 

"  After  the  meeting  in  the  afternoon  closed,  the  young  ladies 
at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Rankin  sang  several  of  the  finest  polit 
ical  songs  we  ever  heard ;  '  Vallandigham  and  Pugh ; '  i  The 
Constitution  as  it  is/  &c. 

"  The  next  day  the  speakers,  with  the  exception  of  Mr. 
Norton,  proceeded  to  Haysville,  Ashland  County,  where  a  simi 
lar  crowd  of  thousands  were  already  congregated  on  their 
arrival.  The  same  speakers  were  present,  including  Judge 
Bliss,  the  'just  judge/  elected  to  Congress  from  that  District. 
Here  we  found  the  same  wild  enthusiasm  for  Vallandigham  as 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  325 

in  Knox  County,  participated  in  by  all  classes,  male  and  female, 
old  and  young.  In  fact,  language  cannot  do  justice  to  what 
we  saw  and  heard  at  these  two  meetings,  while  order  the  most 
complete  was  at  all  times  observed.  In  fact,  the  excitement 
seemed  more  like  a  religious  than  a  political  enthusiasm,  in 
which  men,  women  and  children  seem  to  take  an  equal  interest. 
"  If  the  Democracy  of  Knox  and  Ashland  can  be  beaten  in 
good  fellowship  and  enthusiasm,  our  majorities  in  Ohio  are 
certain  to  reach  fifty  thousand." 


[From  the  same  of  the  same  date.] 
"  VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  From  all  points  in  the  State  come  to  us  sounds  of  '  the 
increasing  tread J  of  the  Yallandigham  Democracy.  There  is 
no  rebutting  the  testimony  borne  on  every  breeze  that  Yallan- 
digham  has  become  the  watchword  of  civil  liberty,  and  that 
the  people  are  gathering  about  his  banner  as  flocked  the  legions 
to  Tell.  And  strange  and  hopeless  indeed  would  be  the  infat 
uation  of  Americans  could  they  fail  to  come  ( with  shout  and 
song'  to  the  support  of  him  in  whose  person  their  every  title 
to  freedom  and  to  citizenship  has  been  violated  and  outraged. 
But  there  is  no  mistaking  '  the  signs  of  the  times/  The  people 
are  awake  not  only  to  their  own  responsibility,  to  their  own 
danger,  but  to  the  inspiration  which  in  all  ages  has  gathered 
ahout  a  chieftain  struck  by  the  hand  of  power  for  apostleship 
of  human  freedom  and  personal  enfranchisement.  Almost 
without  notice  in  any  part  of  the  State,  thousands  flock  to  a 
Yallandigham.  meeting." 


We  could  fill  scores  of  pages  with  accounts  of  meetings 
like  these  held  in  every  part  of  the  State.  These  we  have 
given  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  the  earnest  spirit  and  deep 
enthusiasm  that  pervaded  the  people. 

Mr.  Yallandigham  remained  at  Niagara  Falls  till  some  time 
in  August.  The  following  notice  of  him  appears  in  the  cor 
respondence  of  the  New  York  News : — 


326     LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  NIAGARA  FALLS,  August  1,  1863. 
"To  the  Editors  of  the  New  York  News: 

"An  hour  ago  I  ferried  over  Niagara  river  below  the  Falls, 
bathed  my  brow  in  the  mist  of  the  mighty  cataract,  and  here  I 
stand  upon  British  soil,  an  unwilling  witness  to  the  humiliating 
fact  that  at  least  one  American  citizen  here  is  more  free  beneath 
the  protecting  folds  of  the  cross  of  St.  George  than  he  was  upon 
his  own  native  soil  beneath  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

"I  have  just  paid  my  respects  to  that  fearless  champion  of 
free  speech,  the  first  man  whom  a  hostile  Administration  under 
the  plea  of  '  military  necessity '  ever  banished  from  his  State  to 
another  of  that  portion  of  the  country  which  the  banishing 
power  still  claims  as  Federal  territory,  for  the  bold  and  fearless 
but  truthful  criticism  of  its  policy. 

"  I  found  Mr.  Yallandigham  at  Niagara  Falls  (Canada  side, 
of  course),  at  the  hotel  of  Mr.  Davis,  near  '  Table  Eock/  he 
having  left  the  Clifton  House  a  few  days  since. 

"  My  card  secured  me  an  immediate  reception,  and  I  was 
agreeably  surprised  to  find  him  in  such  excellent  health  and 
spirits.  Never  in  the  proudest  day  of  his  power  in  Congress 
had  I  seen  him  more  hopeful  and  tranquil.  His  social  and 
commanding  presence,  his  well-rounded,  symmetrical  figure, 
clear  complexion,  expressive  eye,  resolute  mouth  and  chin,  a 
forehead  denoting  high  intellectual  powers,  presented  an  en 
semble  that  had  not  suffered  by  its  passage  through  '  Dixie/ 

"  Since  Mr.  Vallandigham's  arrival  at  the  Falls,  some  three 
weeks  since,  the  visits  received  have  been  a  perfect  ovation. 
Over  fifteen  hundred  persons,  distinguished  men  from  all 
sections,  have  'been  here,  and  their  errand  has  been  no  idle 
compliment.  He  has  more  honest  friends  to-day,  exiled  as  he 
is,  than  the  whole  tribe  of  his  maligners  from  tide-waiter  up  to 
the  noisiest  Abolitionist  who  is  plundering  the  people.  It  is 
remarkable  that  he  bears  up  under  this  tax  upon  physical 
energy  so  well." 

• 

Towards  the  last  of  the  month  Mr.  Vallandigham,  after 
•a  brief  tour  down  the  lakes  and  the  river  St.  Lawrence  to 
Montreal  and  Q  selected  Windsor,  in  Canada  West,  op 

posite  D  Michigan^  as  his  place  of  sojourn.     It  was  easy 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  327 

of  access  and  convenient  for  communication  with  Ohio  and 
the  Northwest,  while  the  beautiful  Detroit  river  and  Lakes 
Erie  and  St.  Clair,  full  of  fish  and  fowl,  and  the  thick  forests 
around  abounding  in  game,  could  afford  healthful  exercise  for 
the  body  and  pleasure  to  the  mind.  He  arrived  on  the  24th, 
and  the  next  day  was  visited  by  a  large  delegation  of  his 
fellow-citizens  from  Detroit,  who  gave  him  a  cordial  welcome.' 
On  their  behalf  Judge  O'Flynn  addressed  him  thus : — 

"  On  behalf  of  the  gentlemen  present,  your  friends  and 
fellow-citizens  of  Detroit,  who  have  thus  gathered  here  without 
preconcert  or  preparation,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting 
you  their  hearty  greeting.  In  feeling  and  in  sympathy  they 
represent  many  thousands  of  American  patriotic  citizens,  who 
deprecate  the  tyranny  which  exiled  one  of  the  chief  citizens  of 
our  country,  guilty  of  no  offence,  and  in  violation  of  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  law.  ...  I  doubt  not,  Sir,  but  that  the 
record  of  your  patriotic  efforts  in  support  of  free  government, 
will  constitute  a  brilliant  page  in  American  history.  Posterity 
will  revere  your  name,  and  will  be  emboldened  by  your  ex 
ample.  Esteemed  and  honored  at  home,  your  fellow-citizens 
designated  you  to  represent  them  in  the  Congress  of  the  nation, 
and  well  they  know  and  appreciate  how  faithfully  and  ably  you 
discharged  the  high  trust  committed  to  you.  ...  But  how 
priceless  is  this  exile  since  it  has  caused  the  usurpers  of  power 
to  pause  in  their  mad  career,  and  has  nerved  the  arm  and 
aroused  the  vigilance  of  freemen  to  defend  the  great  corner 
stone  of  free  institutions  —  free  speech  and  a  free  press ! " 

Mr.  "Vallandigham  replied,  thanking  his  fellow-citizens  for 
their  kindly  welcome.  He  said  it  was  gratifying  personally, 
but  much  more  as  a  testimony  for  the  great  cause  of  constitu 
tional  liberty.  Very  strange  was  the  spectacle  of  an  American 
citizen  in  exile,  receiving  a  visit  from  his  own  countrymen 
upon  foreign  soil,  and  under  the  protection  of  a  foreign  flag, 
but  in  sight  of  his  own  country.  "  It  is  indeed,"  said  Mr.  V., 


328  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  my  country,  and  as  dear  to  me  as  when  last  I  trod  its  soil.7' 
It  was  not  fitting  that  here  he  should  discuss  the  political 
questions  of  that  country.  The  great  issue  in  this  country  and 
at  home  was,  indeed,  the  question  of  personal  and  political 
liberty,  secured  in  the  one  by  Magna  Charta,  the  Petition  of 
Right,  the  statute  of  Habeas  Corpus,  and  the  Bill  of  Rights  ;• 
and  in  the  other  by  the  guarantees  of  our  State  and  Federal 
Constitutions.  In  better  times  he  would  discuss  them  at  home, 
with  the  ancient  freedom  of  an  American  citizen.  Of  himself, 
though  so  cordially  met  and  kindly  referred  to,  he  had  noth 
ing  to  say.  He  was  nothing ;  the  cause  everything.  A  great 
struggle  was  going  on  in  the  United  States  to  regain  lost  lib 
erties — freedom  of  speech,  of  the  press,  and  of  public  as 
semblages,  and  to  maintain  free  elections.  He  had  great  faith 
in  the  triumph  of  the  people,  faith  in  Providence,  and  faith  in 
the  race  which,  in  England  and  America,  had  successfully  sup 
ported  their  rights  and  liberties  for  six  hundred  years.  The 
race  would  still  vindicate  itself  in  the  United  States.  The 
right  of  free  election,  and  all  that  preceded  and  was  essential 
to  it,  must  be  maintained  — peaceably  if  possible,  but  it  must 
be  maintained  at  all  hazards.  He  counselled  obedience  to  the 
Constitution  and  to  all  laws,  and  the  enforcing  of  that  obe 
dience  by  all  men,  those  in  authority  and  those  not  in  authority. 
The  ballot  was  the  true  and  proper  remedy  in  the  United 
States  for  all  political  wrongs,  and  it  was  all-sufficient.  But 
when  the  ballot  is  denied,  then  the  right  of  revolution  begins 
—  not  the  right  only,  but  the  sacred  duty.  Give  us  a  free 
ballot  and  we  want  no  more.  Through  this  we  will  regain 
liberty,  maintain  the  Constitution,  uphold  the  laws,  and  restore 
the  Union ;  and  thus  we  will  support  the  Government  which  our 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  329 

fathers  made.  Claiming  the  fullest  right  at  home  to  criticise 
and  condemn  the  men  and  acts  of  the  Administration,  and 
meaning  at  the  proper  time  to  again  exercise  it  to  the  utmost, 
he,  yet  on  foreign  soil,  had  no  word  of  bitterness  to  speak. 
He  would  only  remember  now  that  they  represented  his 
country,  and  forbear. 

The  canvass  in  Ohio,  as  has  been  already  stated,  was  con 
ducted  with  extraordinary  spirit.  Large  and  enthusiastic  Dem 
ocratic  meetings  were  held  in  every  part  of  the  State,  and 
were  addressed  by  able  and  eloquent  speakers.  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  earnestly  desired  to  mingle  in  the  conflict,  but  his 
friends,  fearful  of  the  consequences,  would  not  consent ;  yet  so 
anxious  was  he  to  take  part  in  the  canvass,  that  on  one  occa 
sion,  without  their  consent,  against  their  advice,  he  made  an 
attempt  to  return  (an  account  of  which  will  be  given  in  the 
next  chapter),  but  was  unsuccessful.  He,  however,  sent  able 
and  spirited  letters  to  several  different  meetings,  which  were 
published  and  widely  circulated.  At  a  Eepublican  meeting  in 
Columbus,  Mr.  Brough,  his  competitor  for  the  office  of  Gov 
ernor,  had  declared  that  the  election  of  Mr.  Vallandigham 
would  be  an  "  invitation  to  the  rebels  "  to  come  and  take  pos 
session  of  the  soil,  and  that  it  would  "inaugurate  civil  war  in 
Ohio.'7 

In  a  letter  dated  Windsor,  C.  W.,  Sept,  15,  1863,  to  a 
mass  meeting  of  the  Democracy  convened  in  Dayton  on  the 
17th  of  September,  he  thus  replies  : — 

"First,  The  'invitation  to  rebels  in  arms'  which  my 
election  will  signify,  will  be  to  lay  down  their  arms  and 
return  to  the  old  Union  and  to  obedience  to  and  protection 
under  the  Constitution,  laws  and  flag,  secure  from  Abolition 
intermeddling  and  agitation  as  before  the  war,  and  from  con- 


330  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

scription,  confiscation,  execution,  emancipation,  negro  equality, 
and  all  exertions  of  arbitrary,  despotic  power  since. 

"  Second.  There  will  be  no  '  civil  war '  in  Ohio  if  I  am 
elected  Governor,  unless  Mr.  Brough  and  his  party  inaugurate 
it ;  in  which  event  we  will '  crush  out  the  rebellion '  in  a  very 
much  shorter  space  of  time  than  they  have  employed  in  putting 
down  the  f  slaveholders'  rebellion/  If,  however,  he  means  that 
they  will '  secede '  from  the  State  by  voluntary  exile  to  Canada 
or  elsewhere,  there  will  be  no  '  coercion '•  in  that  event.  But 
the  threat,  if  intended  to  intimidate,  is  as  idle  as  the  wind :  if 
meant  seriously,  it  is  time  that  the  people  should  know  it,  that 
they  may  affix  the  mark  of  Cain  upon  the  foreheads  of  these 
new  conspirators  against  the  ballot-box.  In  any  event,  he 
whom  a  majority  of  the  ' qualified  electors'  of  Ohio  may 
choose  for  their  Governor  will  be  inaugurated,  and  the  vast 
mass  of  the  people  without  distinction  of  party  will  aid,  if 
need  be,  in  the  work  of  keeping  the  peace  of  the  State  and 
carrying  out  the  fundamental  maxim  of  popular  governments 
that  the  '  majority  must  govern.'  For  let  Mr.  Brough  and  all 
others  who  would  defeat  the  will  of  the  people  take  notice,  that 
{ there  is  a  mighty  mass  of  men  in  Ohio  whose  nerves  are 
strung  up  like  steel/  who  mean  that  the  man  who  is  the  choice 
of  the  people  shall  be  the  people's  Governor.  Should  that 
choice  fall  upon  me,  all  the  duties  of  the  office  shall  be  faith 
fully  and  fearlessly  discharged.  I  would  myself  obey  the 
Constitution  and  laws,  and  see  to  it  that  all  others  obeyed  them 
within  her  limits  and  jurisdiction.  The  courts  should  be  open 
and  restored  once  more  to  their  rightful  authority;  justice 
administered  without  denial  or  delay,  and  the  military  in  strict 
subordination  to  the  civil  power.  Habeas  corpus  should  be 
respected,  no  citizen  arrested  except  upon  due  process  of  law, 
or  held  except  for  trial  by  the  civil  tribunals,  and  t none  kid 
napped  from  the  State. 

"  But  while  the  rights  of  the  State  and  the  liberties  of  her 
citizens  should  be  thus  strictly  enforced,  the  constitutional  and 
lawful  authority  and  rights  of  the  Federal  Government  should 
be  obeyed  and  respected  with  scrupulous  fidelity,  no  matter 
who  administered  it.  Whatever  the  Administration  have  a 
right  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  to  demand  or  expect 
from  the  State  Executive,  should  be  promptly  and  exactly 
rendered.  In  short,  I  would  adopt  and  thoroughly  carry  out 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  331 

the  two  maxims  upon  this  subject  laid  down  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
in  his  inaugural  in  1801 : — 

"  First.  '  The  support  of  the  State  Governments  in  all  their 
rights  as  the  most  competent  administrators  of  our  domestic 
concerns  and  the  surest  bulwarks  against  anti-republican  ten 
dencies/ 

"  Second.  '  The  preservation  of  the  General  Government 
in  its  whole  constitutional  vigor  as  the  sheet-anchor  of  our 
peace  at  home  and  safety  abroad/  " 

In  a  letter  to  a  similar  meeting  a  few  days  after,  he  says : — 

"  I  counsel  you,  one  and  all,  to  stand  by  the  Union,  main 
tain  the  Constitution,  support  the  Government,  and  obey  the 
laws.  But  in  the  name  and  by  the  memory  of  your  fathers, 
and  as  you  would  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  yourselves 
and  your  children,  I  invoke  you  to  defend  the  right  of  election 
and  the  ballot-box  by  all  the  means  which  the  exigencies  of 
the  case  may  demand.  The  hour  of  your  trial  has  at  last 
come.  Be  firm  and  be  ready.  And  God  grant  that  the  spirit 
of  the  patriots  and  freemen  of  other  ages  and  countries,  of  the 
heroes  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the  spirit  of  Bruce  and  Tell,  of 
Hampden  and  Sydney,  of  Henry,  and  Washington  and  Jackson, 
may  be  found  to  survive  yet  in  the  men  of  the  present  genera 
tion  in  America ;  and  thus  that  both  the  form  and  the  substance 
of  constitutional  liberty  and  free  popular  government  be  still 
preserved  and  made  secure  among  us." 

About  the  same  time  a  meeting  was  held  in  New  Lisbon. 
The  following  incident  in  connection  with  that  meeting,  we 
take  from  the  Wellsville  Patriot : — 

"  VALLANDIGHAM'S  BIRTH-PLACE. 

"  As  the  Democratic  procession  in  New  Lisbon  on  Thursday 
last  passed  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Vallandigham,  a  comfortable 
two-story  brick,  surrounded  with  shade  trees  and  tastefully 
arranged  shrubbery,  we  observed  suspended  across  the  gateway 
a  plain  white  muslin  banner,  bearing  the  simple  inscription 
which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  paragraph,  and  upon  the 
grassy  lawn,  near  the  door  of  the  old  homestead,  now  rendered 


332  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

dear  to  every  freeman,  stood  the  aged  mother  of  Hon.  C.  L. 
Vallandigham,  whose  name  and  fame  is  familiar  to  the  civilised 
world  as  the  great  apostle  and  champion  of  human  rights 
during  the  reign  of  terror  and  high-handed  usurpations  of  the 
Lincoln  Administration.  To  Mrs.  V.,  who  is  now  more  than 
( three-score  years  and  ten/  the  17th  day  of  September,  1863, 
was  a  proud  day.  What  must  have  been  her  feelings  when 
she  witnessed  that  every  one,  perhaps,  of  that  great  procession 
of  freemen,  as  they  passed  that  plain,  unassuming  banner,  in 
voluntarily  sent  forth  their  hearty  huzzas  in  honor  of  her 
exiled  and  persecuted  son !  and  that  procession,  long  and 
enthusiastic  as  it  was,  was  but  a  moiety  of  the  honest  sons  of 
Ohio  whose  inmost  hearts  beat  in  unison  with  theirs.  '  Vallan- 
digham's  Birth  Place/  What  associations  crowd  around  it!  — 
the  once  residence  of  an  aged  divine  who  has  long  since  been 
gathered  to  his  fathers,  and  now  the  residence  of  his  widow,  who, 
like  the  mother  of  Washington,  imparted  the  nobleness  of  her 
own  soul  to  her  son.  By  her  instructions  in  morals,  in  religion, 
in  purity  of  purpose  and  honesty  of  intentions,  from  convic 
tions  of  duty,  she  raised  her  son  Clement;  but  .little  did  she 
think  when  bestowing  but  a  mother's  care  upon  him,  that 
before  he  had  scarcely  reached  the  meridian  of  life,  that  through 
official  persecution  and  banishment  from  his  native  State  and 
the  home  of  his  adoption,  he  would  become  the  admired  and 
beloved  of  millions.  But  such  are  the  mysterious  providences 
of  God.  Just  in  time  for  the  Colonies  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  Great  Britain,  He  gave  an  oppressed  and  tax-ridden  people 
a  leader  who  conducted  them  through  a  successful  struggle  of 
seven  years  for  freedom,  for  liberty  and  independence ;  and  it 
may  be  that  He  has  sent  us  a  second  deliverer  in  the  person  of 
C.  L.  Vallandigham,  from  all  those  terrible  wrongs  and  out 
rages  which  the  people  are  now  suffering  at  the  hands  of  usur 
pation  and  arrogance.  *  Vallandigham's  Birth  Place '  is  now 
consecrated  and  classical  ground ;  and  whether  the  terrible 
struggle  through  which  this  country  is  passing  shall  result  in 
the  triumph  of  freedom  or  despotism,  the  present  century  will 
not  have  passed  into  eternity  until  pilgrimages  will  be  made 
from  every  point  of  the  compass  where  the  fire  of  liberty  is 
unquenched,  and  sages  and  patriots  will  revere  the  spot  and 
love  to  look  upon  it  as  every  freeman  does  the  hallowed  grounds 
of  Mt.  Vernon  and  Monticello,  the  Hermitage,  or  Ashland.7' 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  333 

The  enthusiasm  for  Mr.  Vallandigham,  as  exhibited  in  the 
tremendous  outpourings  of  the  people  in  every  part  of  the  State, 
greatly  alarmed  the  Administration.  But  they  determined  that 
he  should  not  be  elected  if  force  or  fraud  could  prevent  it.  It 
was  the  design  of  the  President  at  one  time  to  attempt  to  con 
trol  the  election  by  force,  as  in  Kentucky,  and  the  suspension 
of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  every  State  was  the  first  step 
in  that  direction.  But  the  firm  front  shown  by  the  Democratic 
party,  and  their  fixed  purpose  to  resist  by  arms,  if  necessary, 
compelled  him  to  change  the  scheme  from  fbrce  to  fraud,  and 
through  the  joint  aid  of  secret  "Union  Leagues"  and  the  War 
Department  his  success  was  complete.  For  although  Mr. 
Vallandigham  received  a  larger  vote  by  many  thousands  than 
had  ever  before  been  given  to  a  Democratic  candidate  for  Gov 
ernor  of  Ohio,  yet  the  vote  of  the  State  was  recorded  against 
him  by  a  very  large  majority.  The  friends  of  the  Administra 
tion  had  repeatedly  declared  that  they  could  better  sustain  the 
loss  of  a  battle,  or  even  of  a  whole  campaign  in  the  field,  than 
to  lose  the  political  control  of  Ohio  by  his  election,  and  they 
acted  accordingly.  Such  stupendous  frauds  as  they  perpetrated 
had  never  been  committed  in  any  political  canvass  in  the 
United  States.  Hundreds  of  soldiers  that  would  have  cast 
their  ballots  for  Mr.  Vallandigham  were  in  one  way  or  another 
prevented.  Thousands  of  men  who  were  not  citizens  of  Ohio 
were  allowed  to  vote  against  him;  and  whole  companies  of 
soldiers  from  other  States  boasted  not  only  that  they  had  voted 
in  Ohio,  but  that  at  several  different  polls  they  had  helped  to 
swell  the  majority  in  favor  of  his  competitor.  The  increase  of 
the  Democratic  vote  over  that  of  1862*  was  1132;  the  increase 

*  The  vote  for  Secretary  of  State,  there  being  no  election  for  Governor 

in  1862. 


334  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

of  the  Republican  vote  over  that  of  1862  was  68,461 !  this  being 
the  home  vote,  not  including  the  army  vote,  which  would  make 
the  disparity  of  increase  still  greater,  and  furnish  still  clearer 
evidence  of  enormous  frauds. 

Under  these  circumstances  Mr.  Vallandigham's  election  was 
impossible.  Nor  is  it  believed  that  the  election  of  any  other 
Democrat  would  have  been  permitted.  Mr.  Vallandigham's 
peace  principles  may  have  deprived  him  of  some  votes,  but  not 
many.  He  was  cordially  supported  by  General  George  "W. 
Morgan  and  other  gallant  officers  in  the  army,  though  they 
did  not  endorse  his  views  in  regard  to  the  war ;  and  Demo 
cratic  soldiers  in  general  voted  for  him  wherever  the  free  exer 
cise  of  the  ballot  was  allowed  them.  In  the  57th  regiment, 
one  of  the  most  gallant  regiments  in  the  army,  he  received  a 
majority  of  the  votes  cast,  and  in  the  State  he  received  a  larger 
vote  by  between  twenty-five  and  thirty  thousand  than  was  given 
to  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  two  years  before,  who 
favored  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war. 

The  result  was  immediately  made  known  to  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham,  who  the  next  day  issued  the  following  address  to  the 
Democracy  of  Ohio : — 

"Democrats  of  Ohio: — You  have  been  beaten — by  what 
means  it  is  idle  now  to  inquire.  It  is  enough  that  while  tens 
of  thousands  of  soldiers  were  sent  or  kept  within  your  State, 
or  held 'inactive  in  camp  elsewhere,  to  vote  against  you,  the 
Confederate  enemy  were  marching  upon  the  capital  of  your 
country. 

"  You  were  beaten ;  but  a  nobler  battle  for  constitutional 
liberty  and  free  popular  government  never  was  fought  by  any 
people.  And  your  unconquerable  firmness  and  courage,  even 
in  the  midst  of  armed  military  force,  secured  you  those  first 
of  freemen's  right — free  speech  and  a  free  ballot.  The  con- 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  335 

spiracy  of  the  fifth  of  May  fell  before  you.  Be  >not  discouraged ; 
despair  not  of  the  Republic.  Maintain  your  rights ;  stand 
firm  to  your  position ;  never  yield  up  your  principles  or  your 
organization.  Listen  not  to  any  who  would  have  you  lower 
your  standard  in  the  hour  of  defeat.  No  mellowing  of  your 
opinions  upon  any  question,  even  of  policy,  will  avail  anything 
to  conciliate  your  political  foes.  They  demand  nothing  less 
than  an  absolute  surrender  of  your  principles  and  your  organi 
zation.  Moreover,  if  there  be  any  hope  for  the  Constitution 
or  liberty,  it  is  in  the  Democratic  party  alone;  and  your  fellow- 
citizens  in  a  little  while  longer  will  see  it.  Time  and  events 
will  force  it  upon  all,  except  those  only  who  profit  by  the 
calamities  of  their  country. 

"  I  thank  you,  one  and  all,  for  your  sympathies  and  your 
suffrages.  Be  assured  that  though  still  in  exile  for  no  offence 
but  my  political  opinions,  and  the  free  expression  of  them  to 
you  in  peaceable  public  assembly,  you  will  find  me  ever  stead 
fast  in  those  opinions,  and  true  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
State  and  country  of  my  birth. 

"  C.  L.  YALLANDIGHAM. 

"  Windsor,  C.  TF.,  October  14." 

On  the  same  day  he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  wife,  from  which 
we  make  some  extracts  :-r- 

"  I  am  and  shall  remain  as  calm  and  unmoved  as  the  un 
ruffled  waters  of  the  river  and  th&  serene  bright  sunshine  of 
this  beautiful  October  morning.  If  you  will  be  calm,  my  dear 
wife,  and  bear  this  light  affliction  with  firmness,  I  shall  not  for 
myself  suffer  a  moment's  annoyance.  For  the  present  we  can 
sojourn  here,  and  I  have  made  a  most  agreeable  arrangement 
to  occupy  Mr.  R.'s  residence,  all  furnished,  along  with  Col.  S. 
I  have  enough  to  support  me  for  a  year  to  come.  As  to  the 
future,  posterity  will  vote  for  me,  and  there  will  be  neither  chance 
nor  motive  for  violence  or  fraud.  But  I  am  confident  also  that 
after  some  time  be  passed  I  shall  have  justice  and  hold  the  power 
both.  No  man  ever  more  than  I  learned  the  lesson  '  to  labor 
and  to  wait/  Two  years  ago  few  dared  name  me  kindly :  now 
millions  praise,  I  will  not  say  revere  me.  And  yet  I  am  but 
just  entering  upon  the  full  vigor  of  mature  manhood,  and  in 
the  course  of  nature  and  the  providence  of  God  have  many 


336  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

years  yet  before  me.  I  mourn,  indeed,  over  what  I  but  too 
plainly  foresee  to  be  the  calamities  near  at  hand  for  my  country. 
She  is  about  to  add  one  more  to  the  many  lessons  of  history 
which  teach  us  that  no  people  ever  recover  liberty  once  sur 
rendered,  except  in  the  baptism  of  blood.  It  seems  to  be  a 
divine  law  that  without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remis 
sion  of  the  sin  of  political  servitude.  I  am  reminded  of  the 
last  sentence  of  my  speech  of  January  last,  14th.  I  fear  it  will 
prove  to  have  been  prophetic.  But  I  will  not  yield  up  hope 
till  the  last  extremity.  It  is  indeed  a  melancholy  spectacle  to 
see  so  many  people  eager  to  be  made  slaves,  and  all  the  rest 
overborne  by  fraud  and  violence.  But  there  never  was  a  nobler 
contest  waged  for  liberty  and  the  right  than  by  the  Democracy 
of  Ohio.  All  cannot  be  lost  as  long  as  such  men,  so  many  in 
number  and  animated  by  such  a  spirit,  survive.  In  one  way 
or  another  they  will  regain  all.  .  .  .  And  now,  my  dear  wife, 
be  still  of  good  cheer,  be  calm,  be  firm,  and  wait." 

On  the  14th  of  November  a  large  body  of  the  students  of 
the  University  of  Michigan  paid  Mr.  Vallandigham  a  formal 
visit  at  Windsor.  They  were  received  by  him  in  the  dining- 
room  of  the  Hirons  House,  which  was  well  filled  by  a  select 
audience,  embracing  many  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Windsor 
and  Detroit.  A  correspondent  of  the  Hillsdale  Democrat  thus 
describes  the  visit.  After  some  preliminary  remarks  in  regard 
to  the  occasion,  the  writer  says : — 

"  We  marched  up  to  the  Hirons  House,  where  we  found  a 
room  at  our  command,  having  been  prepared  for  us  by  Mr. 
Vallandigham.  We  were  conducted  to  the  room  by  the  gen 
tlemanly  proprietor,  and  as  soon  as  we  had  all  'become  seated, 
a  side  door  opened,  and  the  statesman,  the  martyr,  and  the 
exiled  patriot  of  the  nineteenth  century,  stood  before  us ;  exiled 
for  no  other  reason  than  that  of  loving  his  country  too  well  to 
stand  idly  by  and  not  lift  his  hand  or  voice  as  he  saw  rights 
which  were  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  and  the  policy  of  the 
Government  —  rights  which  were  guaranteed  not  only  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  but  by  the  Constitutions 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  337 

of  each  and  every  State  —  rights  which  were  held  as  dear  to  the 
people  as  their  own  lives,  for  without  their  rights,  as  the  last  two 
years  have  clearly  shown,  the  '  life,  liberty  and  happiness '  of  the 
people  were  worthless — grossly  violated.  I  confess  I  was  some 
what  disappointed  in  the  appearance  of  the  man.  I  had  expected 
a  tall,  rather  slim,  and  a  very  proud-looking  man  —  perhaps  I 
may  say  fierce-looking,  eccentric  in  manners  and  dress.  But 
on  the  contrary  I  saw  a  man  neatly  and  fashionably  dressed, 
with  smiling  open  countenance,  and  nothing  about  him  very 
forcible  or  striking  save  his  eye.  I  think  I  have  never  in  my 
whole  course  of  life  seen  an  eye  which  was  like  it  in  every 
particular, —  very  large,  full  and  round.  It  is  constantly  be 
traying  the  thoughts  of  his  mind  and  the  feelings  of  his  heart. 
It  gleamed  and  sparkled  as  he  enumerated  his  wrongs ;  and 
it  trembled  and  filled  with  a  tear  as  he  pictured  his  country  in 
the  future. 

"  A  member  of  the  class  addressed  him,  telling  him  of  our 
sympathising  with  him  in  his  wrongs  as  a  fellow-citizen,  and 
of  our  appreciation  of  him  as  a  fearless  and  conscientious 
champion  of  constitutional  rights.  Mr.  Vallandigham  then 
arose  and  essayed  to  speak,  but  could  not ;  his  lip  trembled 
and  a  tear  stood  in  his  eye.  He  raised  himself  to  his  full 
height,  and  looked  around  for  a  single  moment.  That  moment 
I  never  shall  forget.  There  was  not  even  a  breath  drawn  — 
all  was  still  as  death.  Perhaps  it  was  weakness  in  me;  if  so, 
we  were  all  weak,  for  there  was  not  a  dry  eye  in  that  large 
crowd.  We  saw  before  us  a  soul,  generous,  noble,  true;  a 
soul  whose  every  throb  was  for  his  country ;  a  soul  that  com 
muned  with  every  one  present,  conveying  ideas  clothed  in  the 
eloquence  of  a  silence  that  drew  tears  even  from  reporters'  eyes. 
'  Friends/  said  he.  The  spell  was  broken  —  his  voice  was 
again  under  his  control ;  and  for  a  full  half-hour  we  sat  there, 
never  stirring,  hardly  breathing,  listening  with  every  faculty 
alive  to  catch  the  eloquent  words  which  conveyed  thoughts 
almost  inspired.  Perhaps  it  was  the  occasion,  perhaps  the 
emotion  of  the  speaker,  that  had  such  an  effect  upon  all  present. 
I  say,  it  might  have  been  this  that  had  such  an  influence  over 
us  that  we  were  far  from  criticism.  But  I  cannot  attribute 
it  wholly  to  this,  but  in  part  to  a  feeling  of  humbleness  we  all 
have  when  in  the  presence  of  a  superior  mind. 

"  Long  will  the  participants  in  that  excursion  remember  it. 

22 


338         ,    LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Long  will  it  be  before  they  forget  the  mighty  truths  that  a 
mighty  man  impressed  upon  them,  in  the  sincerity,  earnestness 
and  eloquence  of  one  who  felt  their  worth/' 

Mr.  C.  A.  Buskirk,  on  behalf  of  the  students,  delivered  a 
most  appropriate  and  eloquent  address,  to  which  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  made  the  following  reply : — 

"  I  thank  you,  young  gentlemen,  for  this  visit;  I  thank  you, 
BIT,  especially,  Mr.  Buskirk,  for  the  compliments  so  hand 
somely  expressed  on  behalf  of  your  fellows.  The  applause  of 
the  young  is  the  highest  praise — they  speak  the  language  of 
the  coming  generation,  and  anticipate  the  judgment  of  poster 
ity.  To  that  judgment,  if  it  so  be  that  my  name  shall  chance 
to  live  in  the  record  of  these  times,  I  long  since  appealed  :  and, 
meantime,  am  willing  to  abide  the  scrutiny  which  must  precede 
it.  Without  further  personal  allusion,  therefore,  in  reply, 
allow  me  to  pass  to  another  subject,  and  if  it  be  in  my  power, 
thus  to  change  a  visit  of  ceremony  into  one  perhaps  not  alto 
gether  without  profit. 

"  You  are  students.  Some  of  you  still  pursue  your  classical 
and  scientific  studies ;  others  prepare  yourselves  for  professional 
pursuits ;  all  of  you  are  eager  to  rush  into  the  great  world 
and  be  men.  Yet  in  a  little  while,  when  you  have  borne  its 
buffettings  with  lusty  sinews,  not  one  of  you  but  will  exclaim 
with  a  sigh  — 

1  Ah,  happy  years !    I  would  I  were  a  boy  again.' 

"  But  in  the  battle  of  life  there  is  no  retreat,  and  the  brave 
spirits  among  you  will  press  forward,  and  the  weak  falter  and 
perish;  and  just  in  proportion  as  you  are  disciplined  every 
way,  you  will  be  ready  to  meet  whatever  fortune  may  betide 
you.  '  Redeem  the  time/  There  is  no  injunction  more  sug 
gestive.  So  many  days  and  years  you  have  in  pawn  to  the 
Almighty  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth;  and  those  only  are 
reckoned  redeemed  which  are  spent  profitably  either  to  the  body 
or  the  mind.  Youth  is  not  the  season  for  ease  and  pleasure, 
but  for  labor  and  self-denial.  Whoever  has  practised  these 
hardy  virtues  when  a  boy  and  in  early  manhood,  will,  at  forty, 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  339 

sound  in  mind  and  body,  find  the  lawful  and  virtuous  pleasures 
of  life  full  of  sweetness.  Horace  was  right :  multa  tulitfecitque 
puer. 

"  The  more  ingenuous  among  you  incur  another,  and  widely 
differing  hazard.  You  have  endured  heat  and  cold ;  have 
refrained  from  lust  and  wine ;  have  abjured  pleasure,  or  rather 
have  found  it  in  labor  and  study.  Your  vigils  have  '  out- 
watched  the  bear.'  But  youthful  ambition  is  eager  and  impa 
tient.  It  sees  nothing  but  Fame's  proud  temple,  and  forgets 
that  it  shines  afar.  It  sees  not  the  long  and  wearisome  leagues 
of  hill  and  valley,  of  forest  and  rock,  of  thicket  and  jungle, 
which  lie  between  the  goddess  and  her  worshippers.  It  counts 
every  moment's  delay  and  difficulty  on  the  way  as  a  moment 
lost.  There  is,  indeed,  a  false  goddess  whose  fame  is  near  and 
easy  of  access.  Hard  by  is  the  altar  of  Mammon.  Fraud, 
falsehood  and  violence  are  their  joint  sibyls  and  priests.  A 
tumultuous  crowd  of  idolatrous  and  abject  worshippers  throng 
around.  But  notoriety  is  not  fame,  and  her  devotees  soon 
perish.  Not  such  let  your  ambition  be,  but  rather  that  which 
Pope,  and  after  him  Lord  Mansfield,  proclaimed,  e  the  pursuit 
of  noble  ends  by  noble  means/  and  yours,  too,  that  popularity 
which  follows,  not  that  which  is  run  after.  But  to  obtain  this 
you  must  learn  early  that  most  difficult  of  all  lessons  —  to 
labor  and  to  wait.  At  twenty  you  think  forty  an  old  age.  At 
forty,  if  you  have  disciplined  your  minds  and  not  abused  your 
bodies,  you  will  find  yourselves  younger  but  far  wiser  than  you 
are  to-day  ;  and  the  hour  of  your  death  will  seem  more  distant 
and  give  you  less  concern.  You  will  feel  that  there  is  yet  a  „ 
life-time  before  you ;  and  if  you  are  of  a  strong  will  and  brave  * 
spirit,  and  worthy  of  a  name  to  live,  your  past  failures  and 
defeats  you  will  regard  then  as  but  probation  and  discipline, 
and  indeed  as  so  many  assurances  of  final  triumph.  Press 
on !  but  not  in  haste.  The  master  of  Ravenswood  chose 
a  wise  motto  and  not  inapt  coat  of  arms —  a  bull's  head,  and 
1 1  bide  my  time.'  In  one  other  thing  be  not  mistaken.  You 
are  not  about  to  finish  your  studies.  When  you  take  leave  of 
the  University  you  but  begin  them.  No  man  ever  attained 
great  and  enduring  eminence  without  study,  not  always  of 
books.  Men  of  action  have  not  leisure  at  all  times  for  books. 
But  they  are  students,  nevertheless,  of  the  men  and  things 
around  them ;  and  books  are  but  the  written  records  of  things 


340  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  men  remote,  or  of  the  past.  But  they  have  this  advantage, 
that  whatever  they  record  has  passed  through  the  alchemy  of 
the  great  minds  by  whom  they  were  written.  And,  more 
over,  in  them  we  study  men  and  things,  divested  of  the 
prejudices,  of  the  bigotries,  and  the  self-interested  influences 
of  that  which  is  present  in  time  or  near  in  space.  Especially 
is  this  true  of  history  —  the  most  amplifying,  liberalising  in 
its  effect  upon  the  mind  and  soul  of  all  studies.  He  who 
remains  a  bigot  in  anything  has  read  history  to  little  purpose. 
And  he  who  would  comprehend  the  present  and  discern  the 
future,  must  give  his  days  and  nights  to  this  study.  Prophecy 
uninspired  is  but  history  anticipated.  Head  history  and  learn 
that  the  patriot,  the  hero,  the  statesman,  the  orator  whom  you 
reverence  or  admire  in  the  pages  of  Plutarch  and  Livy,  or  of 
Hume,  Gibbon  and  Macaulay,  was  reviled  and  persecuted  in 
his  own  day  and  suffered  death,  it  may  have  been,  at  the  hands 
of  the  men  of  his  own  generation.  Ponder,  too,  the  wisdom 
of  Moses  who  before  the  pleasures  and  honors  of  the  king's 
court  preferred  rather  the  Red  Sea  and  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  and  death  and  an  unknown  grave,  that  he  might 

become  a  great  law-giver  and  a  founder  of  a  new  religion  and 
f  f  -i          -I 

ot  a  powerful  people. 

"  Most  of  you  young  gentlemen  have  read  the  usual  course 
of  '  ancient  classics/  It  is  the  fashion  of  our  times  to  decry 
this  study.  But  aside  from  the  perennial  pleasure  through 
life  which  he  receives  who  seeks  these  precious  fountains,  their 
practical  value  also  will  not  be  questioned  by  him  who  reflects 
that  our  whole  language,  and  especially  our  scientific  nomen 
clature,  is  derived  largely  from  the  Greek  and  Latin,  and  that 
our  entire  literature  is  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  these  classics, 
and  full  of  quotations  and  allusions  drawn  from  them.  Cicero's 
magnificent  eulogy  upon  the  studies  which  Archias  taught  is 
not  at  all  exaggerated  when  applied  to  the  Grecian  and  Roman 
writings  which  have  come  down  to  us.  If  the  modern  sculptor 
study  the  Apollo  Belvedere  and  the  Dying  Gladiator,  why  shall 
not  the  modern  student  learn  the  language  of  the  men  who 
chiseled  these  wonderful  creations  out  from  the  solid  marble  ? 
But  most  valuable  as  the  mere  discipline  may  be,  it  is  not 
enough  that  you  content  yourselves  with  the  usual  course  now 
prescribed  in  the  school  or  the  college.  These  writings  must 
be  a  study  more  or  less  through  life.  Let  not  any  one  say 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  341 

that  he  has  ( no  time.'  There  is  always  time  and  a  way  for 
whatever  a  strong-willed,  diligent  man  may  choose  to  under 
take.  What  is  most  wanted  is  a  judicious  economy  of  time, 
and  a  wise  division  of  it  in  the  multiplicity  of  employments,  so 
that  but  one  thing  shall  be  done  at  a  time.  A  majority  of  you, 
young  gentlemen,  are  preparing  yourselves  for  professional 
pursuits.  "Whoever  would  become  a  Christian  clergyman,  let 
him  preach  the  evangely  of  Bethlehem.  Let  him  confine  him 
self  to  his  legitimate  duties  and  aspire  to  be  the  most  faithful 
and  exemplary  of  the  men  of  his  calling.  Whoever  would 
practise  surgery  and  medicine,  let  his  ambition  be  to  reach  as 
near  as  possible  or  to  excel  the  acquirements  and  skill  of  the 
great  men  who  in  ancient  and  modern  times  have  been  the 
ornaments  of  that  profession.  The  Novum  Organum  of  medi 
cine  remains  to  be  written,  and  he  who  has  to  write  it  has  not 
as  yet  appeared.  Why  should  he  not  be  an  American  ?  Why 
not  adorn  the  University  of  Michigan?  And  you,  young 
gentlemen,  who  prepare  for  the  profession  of  law,  will  have  a 
nobler  theatre  to  act  in  than  any  who  have  gone  before  you  in 
the  United  States.  Out  of  the  terrible  revolution  which  now 
convulses  every  part  of  our  unhappy  land,  will  arise  questions 
of  constitutional  and  statute  law,  of  personal  liberty,  of  private 
right,  of  property,  of  life,  grander,  more  numerous,  more  infi 
nite  in  variety  and  more  perplexing  than  heretofore  in  any  age 
or  country.  If  just  now  'amid  arms  laws  are  silent,7  in  your 
day,  at  least,  should  free  government  happily  in  any  form 
survive  among  us,  arms  will  again  yield  to  the  toga  and  laws 
reign  supreme.  With  diligence,  therefore,  fixed  faith  and 
unalterable  purpose,  prepare  yourselves  for  the  destiny  which 
lies  before  you,  to  the  end  that  in  the  next  generation  you  may 
be  among  the  number  of  those  who  upon  the  Bench  and  at  the  Bar 
shall  restore  and  bear  aloft  to  higher  renown  the  already  illus 
trious  standard  of  British  and  American  forensic  learning  and 
eloquence.  Cowardice  and  servility  before  Executive  power 
were  the  disgrace  of  the  English  bar  and  bench  in  the  days  of 
tho  Stuarts,  and  these,  threatening  now  the  honor  and  the 
independence  of  the  American  judiciary,  are  among  the  most 
alarming  portents  of  the  times.  But  remember  that  while 
along  with  the  great  Hampden  the  name  of  the  honest  and 
fearless  Coke  and  of  his  noble  wife  still  survive  in  honor,  the 
time-serving  and  unjust  judges  who  sat  with  him  and  yielded 


342  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

to  political  expedience  and  (  military  necessity/  have  perished 
from  history  or  are  remembered  only  to  be  execrated.  The 
blessed  memory  of  Lord  Hale  is  still  fragrant;  while  the  name 
of  the  bloody  Jeffries,  who  escaped  death  upon  the  felon's 
scaffold  only  by  dying  miserably  in  a  felon's  cell,  is  the  oppro 
brium  of  the  English  bench.  Algernon  Sydney  died  as  a 
convicted  traitor;  but  in  a  little  while  his  execution  was 
adjudged  judicial  murder,  and  posterity  for  six  generations 
has  held  him  in  reverence  as  a  patriot.  Finch,  King  James 
the  Second's  Attorney-General,  procured  the  conviction  and 
death  of  the  pure  and  virtuous  Lord  Russell  as  a  conspirator 
against  the  Government;  but  eight  years  afterwards,  when  he 
would  have  relieved  himself  in  Parliament  from  the  odium  of 
the  act,  the  indignant  clamor  of  the  whole  House  forced  him  in 
shame  and  confusion  to  resume  his  seat,  and  Russell  still  lives  in 
England  and  America  as  a  martyr  to  liberty.  Your  courage, 
your  fortitude,  your  manhood  will  also  some  day  be  severely 
tried.  But  then  remember  Curran,  whose  fame  brightens  just 
as  the  memory  of  the  venal  placemen  and  barristers  around 
him  rots  with  each  revolving  year,  and  who  when  menaced  in 
court  by  a  file  of  soldiers,  clattering  their  muskets  as  he  ad 
dressed  the  jury  in  defence  of  one  charged  with  treason,  ex 
claimed  in  manly  defiance;  'You  may  assassinate,  but  you 
cannot  intimidate  me.J  Read,  too,  the  speeches  and  admire 
and  imitate  the  heroic  Erskine,  the  greatest  of  the  English 
barristers,  who  against  the  whole  power  of  the  Executive  in 
time  of  both  foreign  war  and  rebellion,  maintained  for  years 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  Englishmen  with  undaunted  intrep 
idity.  Prepare  yourselves  by  continual  study  of  the  characters ' 
and  noble  emulation  of  the  examples  of  these  and  other  great 
and  good  men  of  the  past  for  like  scenes  in  your  own  day. 
Nerve  your  hearts  now  for  the  struggle.  But  remember  that 
ability,  however  eminent,  and  intellectual  discipline,  however 
exact,  are  not  enough.  Without  pure  morals,  correct  habits 
and  fixed  integrity,  you  cannot  endure  the  trial.  Be  virtuous, 
be  pious ;  I  use  the  word  in  no  narrow,  sectarian  or  theological 
sense,  but  in  that  which  Virgil  means  when  he  calls  .^Eneas 
'  pious/  a  piety  which  belongs  to  no  one  sect,  nor  time,  nor 
clime,  nor  country,  but  which  everywhere  and  at  all  times 
renders  to  God,  and  self,  and  man,  whatever  is  due,  and  does 
it  in  the  very  spirit  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  343 

"But,  young  gentlemen,  while  I  have  thus  addressed  you 
as  students,  preparing  yourselves  for  the  ordinary  business  and 
professions  of  life,  I  well  know  that  at  any  time  many  of  you 
would  be,  and  in  times  of  such  tremendous  import  as  are  just 
now  upon  us  in  our  own  country,  all  of  you  are  profoundly 
interested  in  politics.  Probably  you  give  to  them  more  of 
your  thoughts  than  to  any  of  your  collegiate  or  professional 
studies.  I  know,  too,  that  many  of  you  even  now  look  eagerly 
forward  to  the  time  when  you  will  pass  from  your  professions 
into  political  life.  That  is  the  goal  of  your  ambitious  longings. 
Your  hearts  are  fixed  upon  it.  It  is  an  honorable,  a  holy 
ambition ;  an  ambition  not  to  be  extinguished,  but  to  be  regu 
lated.  He  is  a  false  teacher  who  would  tell  the  ingenuous,  vir 
tuous  and  public-spirited  youth  of  the  country  that  the  political 
service  of  that  country  is  fit  only  for  the  vulgar,  the  impure, 
the  corrupt.  As  there  are  hypocrites  in  the  pulpit,  empirics 
in  medicine,  pettifoggers  at  the  bar,  and  pretenders  everywhere, 
so  there  are  demagogues  in  political  life.  But  there  .is  as  well 
a  morality,  a  philosophy,  a  science  in  politics  far  above  the 
circle  of  these  reptiles.  Unhappily  the  low  standard  of  capacity 
and  morals  set  up  and  denounced  by  those  who  decline  public 
life,  and  practically  but  too  often  acknowledged  by  politicians, 
is  another  of  the  evil  portents  which  threaten  our  country.  Of 
the  corrupting  influences  of  avarice  at  all  times  I  need  not 
speak.  But  more  debasing  and  dangerous  still,  in  seasons  of 
great  public  commotion,  is  the  execrable  vice  of  fear.  All  these 
combined  make  up  that  most  loathsome  of  all  the  objects  of 
reproach  and  scorn,  a  ( scurvy  politician/  He  has  borne  the 
same  odious  character  in  every  country  and  age.  Among  the 
Greeks  he  once  courted  popularity  or  place  by  pointing  out  the 
smugglers  of  figs,  and  was  cursed  as  both  spy  and  informer, 
and  thence  gave  a  name  to  the  whole  class  of  demagogues.  In 
Home  he  headed  every  petty  popular  tumult,  and  clamored 
fiercely  for  a  division  of  lands  and  goods.  Curran  described 
him  in  his  day  in  felicitous  phrase  as  '  one  who,  buoyant  by 
putrefaction,  rises  as  he  rots/  He  is  the  vermin,  the  insect  of 
politics,  and  amid  the  heats  of  civil  war  and  convulsion,  turns 
into  life  thick  as  gnats  in  the  summer  evening  air.  If  any  among 
you — and  I  speak  to  those  who  would  aspire  to  be  leaders 
among  their  countrymen  —  have  neither  the  capacity  nor  the 
ambition  to  be  statesmen,  let  him  at  least  not  stoop  to  become 


344  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

a  demagogue.  Preach,  heal,  try  causes,  work,  but  scorn  to  be 
one  of  that  number  who  know  nothing  of  politics  except  the 
passions  and  personalities  which  they  excite.  If  not  able  to 
argue  upon  principles,  measures,  policies,  debate  not  at  all.  If 
you  cannot  soar,  do  not  creep.  Whoever  discusses  only  men  in 
politics  is  always  largely  a  slanderer. 

"  Principles,  not  men,  is  not  indeed  altogether  a  sound  maxim, 
though  little,  liable  to  be  abused,  since  personalities  always  make 
up  so  large  and  controlling  an  element  in  mere  partisan  politics. 
Better  say,  principles  and  men.  It  is  easy  to  be  a  politician  or 
demagogue  —  sail  with  the  wind,  float  with  the  current,  look 
not  to  the  compass,  neither  lift  up  eyes  to  the  heavens  where 
the  constellations  and  the  pole  star,  bright,  glorious  emblems 
of  God,  and  truth,  and  the  right,  still  shine  steadfast,  im 
movable,  just  as  they  shone  in  the  beginning  of  time.  Poeta 
nascitur.  So  it  is  with  the  demagogue.  But  the  statesman 
must  be  made  as  well  as  born.  His  voyage  is  through  mid- 
ocean  and  in  storm.  He  sails  under  orders.  His  port  is  ascer 
tained  and  prescribed  before  he  sets  out,  and  it  is  his  duty  to 
reach  it;  and  so,  like  the  majestic  ocean  steamer,  he  sails  on,  and 

'  Against  the  wind,  against  the  tide, 
Still  steadies  with  an  upright  keel.' 

"  Demosthenes,  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago,  in  his 
great  oration  for  the  crown,  well  distinguished  between  these  two 
characters,  declaring  that  while  they  were  alike  in  nothing, 
they  differed  chiefly  in  this :  that  the  statesman  boldly  and 
honestly  proclaimed  his  opinions  before  the  event,  and  thus 
made  himself  responsible  to  fortune,  to  the  times,  to  his  coun 
trymen,  to  the  world ;  while  the  sycophant  or  demagogue  was 
silent  till  the  event  had  happened,  and  then  governed  his  speech 
and  his  conduct  accordingly.  And  now  allow  me  to  add,  that 
though  you  may  be  patriots  and  yet  not  statesmen,  the  great 
statesman  is  always  a  patriot.  His  love  of  country  is  as  well 
a  principle  as  an  emotion.  Duty  enters  largely  into  it,  hence 
it  is  stable,  enduring.  It  is  not  sensational,  certainly  not  a 
mere  feeling  of  gratitude ;  least  of  all  in  the  meaning  of  that 
word,  as  defined  by  Dr.  Johnson,  '  a  lively  sense  of  favors  yet 
to  be  received/  He  loves  his  country  both  wisely  and  well. 
He  never  sacrifices  her  real  though  remote  interest  to  a  popular 
clamor,  and  still  less  at  the  demand  of  those  who  hold  the 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  345 

power.  Neither  will  he  corrupt  the  virtue  nor  tarnish  the 
honor  of  his  country  to  serve  her  mere  sordid  interests.  Rather 
will  he  imitate  the  example  of  Aristides,  who,  reporting  to  the 
Athenians  that  a  certain  proposition  was  indeed  for  their  im 
mediate  advantage  but  would  bring  dishonor  upon  the  State, 
counselled  that  they  would  reject  it. 

"  I  have  said  nothing  about  '  loyalty/  It  is  a  word  which 
belongs  justly  but  only  to  kingly  governments.  I  can  com 
prehend  loyalty  to  a  king,  and  especially  to  a  queen,  but  as  an 
American  I  choose  to  adhere  to  the  good  and  honest  old  repub 
lican  word  '  patriotism/  and  to  cherish  the  virtue  which  it  has 
always  been  used  to  express.  Aspire,  then,  young  gentlemen,  you 
who  would  pursue  a  public  course,  to  be  patriot  statesmen. 
Have  faith — absolute,  unquestioning,  immovable — that  faith 
which  speaks  to  itself  in  the  silence  and  calm  of  the  heart's 
own  beating,  saying,  if  not  to-day  or  this  time,  then  to-morrow, 
or  next?  or  some  other  day,  at  some  other  time,  in  some  other  way, 
all  will  be  well.  Without  this  no  man  ever  achieved  greatness. 
Be  incorruptible  in  your  integrity,  be  inexorable  in  your  delib 
erate,  well-considered  purposes,  be  appalled  by  no  difficulties. 
Amplify  your  minds,  but  still  more,  be  great  in  soul.  It  is  this 
which  shall  lift  you  up  high  above  the  earth,  and  assimilate 
you  to  that  which  is  divine.  Without  it,  you  will  but  creep 
with  dusty  and  drooping  and  wearied  wing.  Without  it,  think 
not  to  endure  that  cruel  and  crushing  weight  of  doing  and 
suffering  which  he  must  bear  who  faithfully  and  with  heroism, 
at  any  time,  but  most  of  all  in  periods  of  great  public  convul 
sion,  would  act  the  part  of  the  patriot  statesman.77 

At  Niagara  Falls,  as  we  have  already  intimated,  Mr.  "Val- 
landigham  was  daily  overwhelmed  with  visitors  from  every 
State,  and  the  throng  was  but  little  diminished  at  Windsor. 
Spies,  too,  beset  him  at  every  step,  but  to  no  purpose.  The 
Administration  seemed  to  be  afraid  of  him.  The  United 
States  gunboat  Michigan,  with  loaded  cannon  and  steam  up, 
lay  opposite  his  bedroom  window  for  four  weeks,  while  a 
score  of  detectives,  provided  with  his  photograph,  kept  Avatch 
in  every  public  place. 


346  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDI0HAl£ 

The  political  canvass  being  over,  Mr.  Yallandigham  devoted 
much  of  his  time  to  reading  and  study.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend, 
written  in  November,  he  thus  describes  his  daily  way  of  life : — 

"  I  am  here  as  calm,  as  determined,  as  steadfast,  and  as  hope 
ful  as  ever,  and  as  busy  too.  I  am  reviewing  history  and 
political  philosophy ;  dipping  a  little  into  the  ancient  classics 
again ;  making  notes  and  memoranda  of  the  times ;  writing 
letters ;  and  closely,  day  by  day,  watching  the  course  of 
events  at  home  and  abroad;  ready  for  any  fortune,  and  I  hope 
equal  to  it.  I  see  many  visitors  also,  and  spend  not  an  idle 
moment,  for  my  recreations,  riding,  walking,  fishing,  hunting, 
&c.,  I  do  not  count  idleness." 

In  a  letter  to  his  brother  James,  dated  January  16th,  1864, 
he  says : — 

"  I  thank  you  for  the  faith  you  express  in  my  future.  To 
the  testimony  of  my  own  conscience  and  the  judgment  of  other 
ages,  and  of  the  present  generation  l  after  some  time  be  past/ 
I  long  since  delivered  myself;  and  I  calmly  dwell  now  in  the 
present,  awaiting  the  times  which  are  to  come.  .  .  .  Mean 
time,  while  in  exile  or  at  home,  till  the  time  for  action  shall 
come,  I  will  with  faith  and  patience  devote  myself  to  those 
studies  and  pursuits  which  shall  fit  me  for  whatever  Providence 
may  have  yet  designed  for  me.  Here  I  accommodate  myself 
to  circumstances  and  make  myself  as  comfortable  as  possible. 
I  have  some  excellent  friends  here  and  in  Detroit,  and  what 
time  I  am  not  occupied  with  them  and  in  exercise,  I  devote  to 
my  books  —  some  of  the  best  of  which  I  have  had  sent  from 
my  own  library  to  me  here.  Indeed,  scarce  ever  in  my  life 
have  I  had  so  fine  a  chance  for  study,  and  I  am  improving  it 
to  the  utmost.  I  hear  from  home  by  letter  every  few  days, 
and  from  all  parts  of  the  country  by  newspaper  every  day.  .  .  . 
Money  I  have  now  all  that  I  shall  need  for  some  time.  So 
( the  Lord's  my  shepherd :  I  do  not  want/  and  literally  he  is 
e  furnishing  my  table  in  the  presence  of  my  foes.' ' 

In  this  spirit,  and  engaged  in  these  pursuits,  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  in  exile  passed  the  winter  and  spring  of  1864,  await- 
g  a  favorable  opportunity,  which  he  felt  persuaded  would 
to  return  to  his  beloved  country  and  his  cherished  home. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

RETURN     FROM     BANISHMENT. 

ON  the  morning  of  the  5th  day  of  May,  1863,  Mr.  Val 
landigham  was  violently  torn  from  his  home,  and  after  an  il 
legal  and  unjust  trial  was  sent  into  banishment :  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  15th  day  of  June,  1864,  he  returned — of  his  own 
accord  returned,  and  was  once  more  sheltered  beneath  his  own 
roof,  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family. 

The  circumstances  attending  his  return  were  highly  inter 
esting  and  exciting :  before  narrating  them,  however,  we  will 
give  an  account  of  an  attempt  he  made  to  return  some  eight 
or  nine  months  before ;  and  for  this  account  we  are  indebted 
to  Dr.  J.  A.  Walters,  of  Dayton.  In  a  letter^  dated  October 
7th,  1871,  he  says  :— 

"  Yours  was  duly  received,  in  which  you  wish  to  know  (in 
consequence  of  my  long  intimate  and  confidential  relations 
with  the  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham)  if  I  have  not  some  secret 
or  private  political  history  of  him  that  would  be  of  interest  to 
the  public,  and  that  might  now  be  properly  made  known ;  and 
if  so,  whether  I  would  not  furnish  it  to  you  for  publication. 
Mr.  Vallandigham,  as  his  most  confidential  friends  all  know, 
had  very  little  private  or  secret  history  as  regards  himself. 
He  always  appeared  to  move  from  fixed  principles,  and  these 
principles  were  the  same  in  private  as  in  public.  However, 
in  looking  over  my  papers  I  find  several  things  that  may  be 
of  public  interest  known  only  to  myself.  Inclosed  you  will 
find  some  papers  from  him  that  vou  are  at  liberty  to  use.  if 


348  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT -L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

you  think  them  of  sufficient  public  interest.  But  with  a  view 
to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  circumstances  which  gave  rise 
to  these  papers,  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  give  a  short  ex 
planation. 

"All  history  gives  account  of  premonitions,  unseen  influ 
ences  which  actuate  men  for  good  or  for  evil.  The  Bible 
speaks  of  guardian  angels  that  watch  over  us,  and  of  course 
impress  us  for  our  own  good  or  for  the  good  of  others. 
Scarcely  any  of  us  but  do  acts  for  which  we  are  unable  at  the 
time  to  give  a  reason,  but  which  in  due  course  of  events  is 
made  to  appear  plain.  This  apparent  digression  will  explain 
itself  as  we  progress. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  arrived  in  Windsor,  Canada,  opposite 
Detroit,  about  the  24th  day  of  August,  1863,  and  took  rooms 
at  the  Hirons  House.  In  the  fore-part  of  September  following, 
I,  in  company  with  a  friend,  spent  several  days  with  him  at 
his  new  quarters.  In  a  few  weeks  after  my  return  home,  I 
began  to  feel  an  almost  irresistible  desire  to  visit  him  again; 
yet  I  knew  of  no  reason  why  I  should.  I  had  nothing  new  to 
communicate  to  him,  neither  could  I  conceive  that  he  had  any 
thing  of  interest  to  communicate  to  me.  I  would  reason  myself 
into  the  belief  that  -it  was  worse  than  folly  for  me  to  visit  him 
under  the  circumstances,  having  been  there  only  a  few  weeks 
before.  I  tried  to  banish  the  idea  from  my  mind,  but  it  would 
not  down  at  my  bidding ;  and  the  promptings  to  go  appeared 
to  strengthen  with  my  desire  to  get  rid  of  them.  Yielding  to 
these  strong  and  apparently  irresistible  influences,  I  again 
visited  him  on  the  29th  of  September.  I  got  there  in  the 
night,  and  found  him  in  his  room  with  a  Mr.  P.  of  Detroit, 
to  whom  he  introduced  me,  and  said,  ( Mr.  P.,  this  is  a  confi 
dential  friend  of  mine,  with  him  everything  is  safe ;  we  will 
commninicate  to  him  our  entire  business,  and  hear  what  he  thinks 
of  it/  He  then  stated  that  he  had  just  completed  an  arrange 
ment  with  Mr.  P.  by  which  he  would  be  iii  Toledo  on  the  night 
of  October  1st ;  that  on  that  day  he  was  going  sixteen  miles 
below  Detroit,  on  the  Detroit  river,  Canada  side;  and  that 
Mr.  P.  was  to  station  horses  for  him  every  ten  miles,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  to  Toledo;  that  he  would  cross 
the  river  in  the  night,  and  go  through  to  Toledo  in  time 
for  the  train  to  Lima  the  same  night.  Said  he,  '  Yoorhees, 
Merrick,  and  others,  speak  in  Toledo  on  the  evening  of  that  day, 
and  they  speak  in  Lima  on  the  next  day,  and  I  intend  to 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  349 

speak  at  that  meeting  with  them,  and  from  thence  continue  to 
stump  the  State  until  the  election.  I  have,'  continued  he, 
'just  as  good  a  right  to  stump  the  State  as  Brough,  and  am  de 
termined  to  do  it.  Now/  said  he,  '  we  will  hear  what  you  have 
to  say  to  this  determined  purpose  of  mine  to  vindicate,  as  I 
claim,  a  sacred  and  constitutional  right  which  no  citizen 
should  ever  yield  but  with  his  life/  I  have  no  recollection 
of  ever  feeling  in  all  my  life  such  an  irresistible  determina 
tion  to  prevent  any  act  or  occurrence  as  I  did  to  prevent 
him  from  the  execution  of  these  plans,  as  I  firmly  believed 
their  execution  could  result  in  nothing  but  disaster  to  himself, 
if  not  to  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  State.  I  replied  immedi 
ately,  and  with  as  much  force  as  I  could  command,  that  so  sure 
as  he  did  cross  into  Ohio  he  was  a  dead  man ;  that  the  wild 
and  almost  demoniacal  influence  which  always  takes  possession 
of  a  portion  of  the  people  in  time  of  war  had,  by  the  action 
of  the  Administration  press,  been  all  turned  against  him;  that 
under  this  influence  I  believed  thousands  stood  ready  to  take 
his  life,  and  would  do  it  with  a  conscientious  belief  that  they 
were  doing  God  and  their  country  service.  Mr.  P.  left  and  we 
continued  the  subject  until  twelve  o'clock  that  night,  and  'more 
or  less  all  the  next  day.  I  used  every  argument  and  resorted 
to  every  device  that  I  thought  would  in  any  way  bear  upon 
the  case,  but  all  to  no  effect.  The  arrangements  were  all 
made,  and  go  he  would,  to  vindicate  a  right  which  he  claimed 
was  nearer  and  dearer  to  him  than  life  itself.  That  evening  I 
bade  him  good-bye,  and  went  down  to  the  river  with  a  view  of 
crossing  for  home,  but  did  not  feel  satisfied ;  and  while  wait 
ing  for  the  Canada  train  to  come*  in,  I  resolved  to  return  and 
spend  another  night  with  him,  and  see  if  I  could  not  make 
some  impression  on  him  that  might  turn  the  scale  in  his  attempt 
to  cross.  I  did  so,  and  argued  the  case  all  over  again,  but 
with  no  better  success.  The  next  morning  when  I  took  leave 
of  him,  I  remarked  with  much  feeling  and  great  earnestness 
that  I  hoped  to  God  a  storm  would  come  up  that  evening  by 
which  he  would  be  prevented  from  crossing  the  river.  He 
replied  that  he  believed  very  much  in  special  providences,  and 
that  if  an  occurrence  of  that  kind  should  take  place  he  scarcely 
knew  what  his  action  might  be.  This  was  the  first  evidence 
he  exhibited  that  anything  could  swerve  him  from  his  purpose, 
and  showed  that  while  he  was  apparently  unyielding  to  all 


350  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

human  influences,  he  was  ready  to  yield  to  what  might  be  a 
providential  manifestation.  Before  I  left  he  handed  me  a 
written  address  to  the  people  of  Ohio  (which  you  will  find 
enclosed),  and  requested  me  so  soon  as  I  heard  by  telegraph  or 
otherwise  of  his  crossing  into  Ohio,  to  hand  it  to  his  nephew, 
James  L.  Robertson,  and  have  him  publish  it  in  the  Dayton 
Empire,  and  send  copies  to  the  leading  papers  throughout  the 
State. 

"About  ten  o'clock  that  day  it  commenced  storming  and  rain 
ing,  and  continued  throughout  the  entire  day  and  into  the  night. 
He  went  down  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day  through  the  storm 
to  the  intended  place  of  crossing.  The  river  at  this  point  is 
about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  wide,  and  having  no  other  way  of 
crossing  but  a  small  skiff,  with  the  waves  running  high,  and  in 
the  night,  the  crossing  would  be'  in  the  highest  degree  hazard 
ous  ;  and  no  doubt  it  appeared  to  him  in  connexion  with  what 
I  had  said,  a  providential  interposition  to  save  his  life  for  some 
future  usefulness^ to _ his, country,  and  he  did  not  make  the 
attempt. 

"  The  next  morning  I  received  the  following  despatch  from 
Mr.?  P.  :— 

"  <  DETROIT,  October  2,  '63. 
'"Mr.  J.  A!  Walters: 

" '  The  cider  can't  be  sent. 

P.' 

"The  next  day  I  received  the  following* letter  from  Mr. 
Vallandigham : — 

" '  (Private.)  WINDSOR,  CAN.,  Oct.  2,  '63. 

" '  My  Dear  Doctor : — 

" '  The  storm  was  a  more  successful  logician  and  counsellor 
than  you ;  so  here  I  am  awaiting  results.  But,  mind  now,  I 
depend  on  you,  and  all  of  you,  to  make  extra  exertions  to  bring 
Dayton  and  Montgomery  County  up  to  the  highest  mark.  I 
have  written  Pugh  to  be  positively  at  D.  on  the  10th.  Now, 
Doctor,  go  to  work,  and  telegraph  me  good  news  on  the  13th. 
"< Truly,  C.  L.  VALL.'" 

Mr.  Vallandigham  was  a  firm  believer  in  Providence,  and 
judging  from  this  providentialjiindrance  that  the  time  for  him 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  351 

had  not  yet  come,  he  resolved  to  patiently  wait  a  little  longer. 
Besides  this,  he  knew  that  his  friends  had  determined  to  bring 
his  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the 
winter,  and  though  he  was  not  sanguine  as  to  the  result,  he 
considered  it  his  duty  to  do  nothing  further  till  that  result 
should  be  known.  He  had  confidence  in  the  Court,  but  his 
case  was  of  so  extraordinary  a  character  that  he  supposed  it 
most  probable  that  no  provision  for  its  legal  redress  had  ever 
been  made,  the  early  framers  of  our  Constitutions  and  laws  not 
foreseeing  or  deeming  it  possible  that  such  a  wrong  as  that  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected  would  ever  occur  under  our  free 
institutions.  He  was  right  in  his  conjecture,  for  such  substan 
tially  was  the  decision  of  the  Court. 

He  now  determined  himself  to  redress  the  wrong  that  had 
been  inflicted  upon  him,  to  recover  the  liberties  of  which  he 
had  been  deprived,  the  rights  which  had  been  illegally  and 
violently  taken  from  him,  or  perish  in  the  attempt ;  and  only 
awaited  a  favorable  time.  That  time  at  length  came,  and  the 
stratagem  to  which  he  resorted  to  accomplish  his  perilous  pur 
pose  we  will  now  briefly  detail. 

On  the  night  of  the  14th  of  June,  1864,  he  was  in  his  room 
at  the  Hirons  House.  He  was  alone,  and  actively  engaged  in 
packing  a  satchel,  as  if  in  preparation  for  travel.  His  face  was 
thoughtful,  and  the  lines  of  resolution  about  his  mouth  seemed 
deepened.  As  he  stood  before  the  mirror  a  little  later,  gravely 
looking  in  as  one  in  deep  thought,  he  appeared  of  firmly  knit 
but  not  heavy  figure,  in  fact  with  no  superfluous  flesh  —  his 
stature  about  five  feet  and  ten  inches,  his  complexion  fresh  and 
blooming,  clear  bright  blue  eyes,  over-arched  by  not  very  heavy 
brows,  a  Eoman  nose,  a  rather  closely  trimmed  dark  beard,  and 


352  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

no  moustache.  A  few  moments  after  he  stands  before  the  same 
mirror/ but  there  is  a  change.  He  is  now  a  man  of  heavy,  cor 
pulent  appearance;  in  height  apparently  under  the  medium 
standard ;  eye-brows  heavy  and  dark,  casting  so  deep  a  shadow 
upon  the  eyes  gleaming  out  from  beneath  them  as  almost,  it 
seemed,  to  darken  them.  A  thick  moustache  swept  the  upper 
lip,  totally  changing  the  expression  of  the  mouth,  and  a  long 
flowing  beard  fell  in  a  huge  mass  upon  his  bosom,  converting 
him,  "  like  Esau  of  old,  into  a  hairy  man."  A  large  pillow 
taken  from  the  bed  had  given  the  "  Falstaffian  proportions  " 
to  Mr.  Vallandigham's  naturally  lithe  and  graceful  figure,  and 
for  the  luxuriant  beard,  moustache,  and  darkened  eye-brows, 
art  had  lent  her  aid.  The  pillow  beneath  the  waist-coat,  how 
ever,  was  the  wearer's  own  invention,  and  most  efficient  did  it 
prove  in  rendering  his  incognito  complete.  And  now  a  long 
folded  leaf  is  turned,  and  the  world  at  last  knows  the  history 
of  Mr.  Vallandigham's  disguise  when  he  made  the  famous 
trip  from  Canada  to  Hamilton,  Butler  County,  Ohio. 

Just  as  the  train  came  in  which  connected  with  trains  going 
southward  on  the  American  side  of  the  Detroit  river,  the  fat 
man  emerged  from  the  shadows  in  the  rear  of  the  lower  part 
of  the  hotel,  and  through  the  back-yard  reached  the  street,  and 
soon  joined  the  passengers  crowding  towards  the  boat  which 
connected  Her  Majesty's  dominions  with  the  United  States. 
Mr.  Vallandigham  comfortably  esconced  himself  on  the  vessel. 
No  one  knew  him ;  and  here  it  is  proper  to  say  that  no  one  in 
Hamilton,  Ohio,  nor  anywhere  else  in  all  the  world,  did  know 
that  he  was  to  be  in  Hamilton  upon  the  15th  day  of  June, 
1864.  He  had  counselled  with  no  one,  and  he  had  told  110  one 
of  his  intentions  nor  of  his  plans,  and  his  arrival  in  that  city 
was  as  unexpected  to  his  friends  as  it  was  to  his  enemies. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.     VALLANDIGHAM.  353 

When  the  American  side  was  reached  he  calmly  prepared 
to  leave  the  boat,  and  with  the  rest  of  the  passengers  was  pass 
ing  through  the  necessary  formalities  with  the  United  States 
officers  upon  reaching  the  shore,  when  one  of  the  officers  came 
up  and  said:  "See  here,  old  fellow,  that  won't  do,  you  have  got 
contraband  there,"  as  he  punched  him  with  his  fingers  in  the 
rotund  abdomen.  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  a  man  of  nerve,  but  for 
a  moment  he  was  taken  aback.  Before  he  could  reply,  the  officer, 
for  same  reason  convinced  that  he  was  wrong,  said :  "  Pardon 
me,  I  see  I  am  mistaken;  but  I  have  to  watch  for  tricks." 
Mr.  Vallandigham  simply  bowed  and  passed  on ;  the  pillow  had 
served  well  its  purpose,  it  had  answered  an  inquiry  as  if  it  had 
been  flesh  and  blood.    Into  the"  streets  of  Detroit  then  he  went, 
and  he  had  not  been  there  more  than  ten  minutes  before  he  was 
arrested  for  the  violation  of  a  petty  municipal  regulation.    The 
officer  who  arrested  him  said :  "  Come  here  to  the  light ;  let 
me  look  at  you."     They  both  stood  together  under  the  gas 
light,  and  both  eyed  each  other  sharply  and  intently ;  at  last 
the  policeman  said :  "  "Well,  you  look  like  an  honest  man  and 
a  gentleman."     With  much  earnestness  and  strong  .emphasis, 
looking  his  captor  steadfastly  in  the  eyes,  Mr.  Vallandigham 
replied  :    "  Sir,  1  am  an  honest  man  and  a  gentleman."     The 
policeman,  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  said :  "  Then  it's  all 
right,  you  can  go."    With  light  heart,  bidding  a  cheerful  good 
night,   Mr.   Yallandigham    wended   his   way   to   the   depot. 
Necessarily  there  he  had  to  speak  a  few  words.    The  first  time 
he  spoke  he  noticed  a  man  turn  quickly  and  look  at  him  ;  he 
returned  the  glance,  saw  it  was  a  colored  man,  and  then  turned 
away.     When  he  got  upon  the  train  the  same  man  came  up 
to  him  and  whispered  in  his  ear :  "  I  know  your  voice,  but  you 
23 


354  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

are  safe  from  me."  Many  years  before  Mr.  Vallandigham 
had  performed  a  favor  for  this  man,  had  done  him  a  kindness 
which  had  never  been  forgotten ;  and  so  on  that  night,  by  the 
gratitude  of  an  humble  negro,  the  great  leader  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  was  preserved  from  arrest.  In  a  short  time  he 
was  snugly  wrapped  up  in  a  berth  of  the  sleeping-car,  and 
swiftly  flying  through  the  darkness  toward  his  beloved  home 
in  Dayton.  But  there  he  did  not  stop ;  steadfast  in  his  deter 
mination  to  be  present  at  the  Convention,  he  stilled  the  yearn 
ings  of  his  heart,  overcame  the  earnest  desire  to  stop  and  see 
his  loved  ones  at  home,  and  did  not  leave  the  sleeping-car 
until  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  the  city  of  Hamilton  was 
reached. 

John  A.  McMahon,  Esq.,  in  a  letter  dated  "Dayton,  Oct.  6, 
1871,"  gives  an  account  of  his  arrival  and  reception : — 

"  Our  district  was  met  in  convention  at  Hamilton  to  select 
a  delegate  to  the  Chicago  Convention.  Mr.  Vallandigham 
desired  to  be  nominated,  as  we  thought,  for  the  purpose  of 
having  an  excuse  to  return.  There  w^as  some  vigorous  opposi 
tion  to  his  selection  as  a  delegate  by  a  few  of  the  more  timidly 
inclined.  While  the  Montgomery  County  delegation  were  dis 
cussing  the  matter  in  caucus,  a  messenger  came  in  and  handed 
me  a  note  pretty  much  after  this  style : 

"'  To  J.  A.  McMahon  or  William  H.  Gillespie:— 

" '  I  am  in  town,  and  will  speak  at  the  Court  House  at  2. 
Get  out  handbills. 

"<C.  L.  VALLAXDIGHAM.' 

"This  ended  all  strife,  producing  wonderful  commotion. 
For  a  few  moments  all  were  quiet,  but  after  the  news  spread 
the  wildest  enthusiasm  began  to  prevail.  The  handbills  were 
struck,  couriers  went  to  the  country  in  every  direction,  and  by 
2  o'clock  or  a  little  later  a  large  and  uproarious,  and  I  may  say 
determined  crowd,  had  assembled.  Mr.  Vallandigham  spoke 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM,  355 

with  extraordinary  vigor,  and  the  people  responded  with  sym 
pathetic  ardor. 

"  After  the  meeting  was  over,  the  question  was  presented  as 
to  his  journey  home.  Some  friends  had  arranged  for  his  con 
veyance  by  carriage.  But  some  of  us  insisted  that  his  conduct 
should  now  be  all  open  and  above-board.  He  was  in  Ohio, 
and  should  take  the  train  like  any  other  citizen.  This  was  his 
own  preference.  It  was  arranged  that  a  friend  should  signal 
from  below  Hamilton  if  soldiers  were  on  the  train.  The 
expectation  was  that  a  regiment  would  be  sent  by  the  officer  in 
command  at  Cincinnati;  but  it  did  not  come.  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  and  his  friends  took  possession  of  one  car,  and  came 
home  in  fine  style  and  spirits.  The  news  having  spread,  car 
riages  were  at  the  depot  to  receive  them,  and  they  drove  up 
Main  street  to  his  home.  The  throng  that  crowded  First  street 
from  that  time  until  a  late  hour  in  the  night  was  immense. 

"  The  question  was  discussed  at  Dayton  and  Columbus  as  to 
the  policy  of  an  arrest,  but  the  temper  of  the  people  was  too 
dangerous  to  be  trifled  with.  Wiser  counsels  prevailed.  It  is 
said  —  and  I  believe  upon  good  authority  —  that  when  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  considering  the  question  of  his  return,  he  asked 
an  Ohio  Senator  what  he  thought  of  a  re-seizure  of  Mr.  Val- 
landigham.  The  Senator  asked  Mr.  Lincoln  if  he  was  ready 
to  transfer  the  Army  of  Virginia  to  Ohio ;  if  not,  the  attempt 
had  better  not  be  made. 

"  I  am  sure  that  an  attempt  to  re-arrest  Mr.  V.  would  have 
led  to  general  and  violent  resistance,  the  consequences  of  which 
the  wisest  could  not  now  imagine. 

"  No  one,  not  a  living  soul  that  I  have  ever  met,  knew  of 
Mr.  V.'s  contemplated  return.  He  dropped  into  Hamilton  as 
from  the  skies." 

Another  writer  gives  the  following  account : — • 

"The  Convention  was  organised  at  1  o'clock,  in  the  midst 
of  great  excitement.  A  rumor  began  to  be  whispered  around 
that  Vallandigham  was  on  his  way  there,  and  would  speak  in 
the  afternoon.  This  was  thought  by  all  to  be  a  canard,  and  even 
the  most  credulous  treated  it  as  such ;  still  it  excited  the  minds 
of  the  people,  and  they  began  to  crowd  around  the  court-room 
At  half-past  one  a  messenger  brought  a  despatch  saying  that 


356  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Vallandigham  would  be  there  soon.  This  was  succeeded  by  a 
tumult  of  wild  excitement ;  applause  after  applause  rent  the 
air,  until  the  walls  of  the  old  court-house  fairly  trembled  from 
reverberating  back  the  sounds.  Everything  and  everybody 
were  on  the  qid  vive. 

"  The  Chairman,  after  repeated  calls  at  the  top  of  his  voice, 
finally  succeeded  in  restoring  partial  order ;  when  it  was  pro 
posed  that  the  rules  governing  the  Convention  be  dispensed 
with,  and  the  delegates  elected  by  general  acclamation.  This 
seemed  to  be  very  gratifying  to  every  one,  as  it  hastened  the  ter 
minus  of  the  proceedings.  Nominations  were  then  made,  and 
the  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  of  Montgomery,  and  C.  Hughes, 
of  Butler,  were  elected  delegates,  and  George  W.  Houk,  of 
Dayton,  and  D.  "W.  Van  Dyke,  of  Warren,  alternates,  with 
Judge  Gilmore,  of  Preble,  as  the  elector,  to  represent  the  Third 
Congressional  District  at  Chicago. 

"Before  the  business  of  the  Convention  was  completed, 
however,  the  shout  was  raised  that  Yal.  was  coming,  and  a 
rush  was  made  to  meet  him.  With  great  difficulty  he  made 
his  way  through  the  throng  of  people  that  gathered  around 
him,  sometimes  borne  upon  their  shoulders,  then  half  walking, 
half  carried  until  he  reached  the  platform.  The  meeting  of 
the  Convention  was  then  closed  in  the  midst  of  excitement, 
and  the  distinguished  '  exile ?  conducted  to  a  stand  erected  in 
the  court-yard,  where  he  delivered  a  short  address  to  the 
immense  crowd  of  people  who  by  this  time  had  gathered  to 
hear  and  see  him ;  and  being  once  more  upon  the  soil  of  his 
native  State  —  in  his  own  District,  where  for  three  successive 
terms  he  had  been  the  choice  of  the  people  to  represent  them 
in  the  National  Congress  —  Mr.  Vallandigham  said : — 

"  Men  of  Ohio  : —  To-day  I  am  again  in  your  midst,  and 
upon  the  soil  of  my  native  State.  To-day  I  am  once  more 
within  the  District  which  for  ten  years  extended  to  me  the  highest 
confidence,  and  three  times  honored  me  as  its  Representative 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  I  was  accused  of  no 
crime  against  the  Constitution  or  laws,  and  guilty  of  none; 
but  whenever  and  wherever  thus  charged  upon  due  process  of 
law,  I  am  now  here  ready  to  answer  before  any  civil  court  of 
competent  jurisdiction,  to  a  jury  of  my  countrymen,  and  in  the 
meantime  to  give  bail  in  any  sum  which  any  Judge  or  court, 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  357 

State  or  Federal,  may  affix  ;  and  you,  the  hundred  and  eighty- 
six  thousand  Democrats  of  Ohio,  I  offer  as  my  sureties.  Never 
for  one  hour  have  I  remained  in  exile  because  I  recognised  any 
obligation  of  obedience  to  the  unconstitutional  and  arbitrary 
edict,  neither  did  personal  fear  ever  restrain  me.  And  to 
day  I  return  of  my  own  act  and  pleasure,  because  it  is  my  con 
stitutional  and  legal  right  to  return.  Only  by  an  exertion  of 
arbitrary  power,  itself  against  the  Constitution  and  law,  and 
consummated  by  military  force,  I  was  abducted  from  my  home 
and  forced  into  banishment.  The  assertion  or  insinuation  of 
the  President  that  I  was  arrested  '  because  laboring  with  some 
effect  to  prevent  the  raising  of  troops  and  to  encourage  desertion 
from  the  army/  and  was  responsible  for  numerous  acts  of 
resistance  to  the  draft  and  to  the  arrest  of  deserters,  causing 
*  assassination,  maiming  and  murder ;'  or  that  at  any  time,  in  any 
way,  I  had  disobeyed  or  failed  to  counsel  obedience  to  the  law 
ful  authority,  or  even  to  the  semblance  of  law,  is  absolutely 
false.  I  appeal  for  the  proof  to  every  speech  I  ever  made  upon 
those  questions,  and  to  the  very  record  of  the  mock  Military 
Commission  by  the  trial  and  sentence  of  which  I  was  outraged. 
No ;  the  sole  offence  then  laid  to  my  charge  was  words  of  criti 
cism  of  the  public  policy  of  the  Administration,  addressed  to  an 
open  and  public  political  meeting  of  my  fellow-citizens  of  Ohio 
lawfully  and  peaceably  assembled.  And  to-day  my  only 
'  crime '  is,  that  in  the  way  which  they  call  treason,  worship  I  the 
Constitution  of  my  fathers.  But  for  now  more  than  one  year 
no  public  man  has  been  arrested,  and  no  newspaper  suppressed 
within  the  States  adhering  still  to  the  Union,  for  expression 
of  political  opinion ;  while  hundreds,  in  public  assembly  and 
through  the  press,  have  with  a  license  and  violence  in  which  I 
never  indulged,  criticised  and  condemned  the  acts  and  policies 
of  the  Administration,  and  denounced  the  war,  maintaining 
even  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  the  recognition  of  Southern 
independence.  Endorsed  by  nearly  two  hundred  thousand 
freemen  of  the  Democratic  party  of  my  native  State  at  the  late 
election,  and  still  with  the  sympathy  and  support  of  millions 
more,  I  do  not  mean  any  longer  to  be  the  only  man  of  that 
party  who  is  to  ,be  the  victim  of  arbitrary  power.  If  Abraham 
Lincoln  seeks  my  life,  let  him  so  declare ;  but  he  shall  not 
again  restrain  me  of  my  personal  liberty,  except  upon  '  due  pro 
cess  of  law.'  The  unconstitutional  and  monstrous  '  Order 


358  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

No.  38/  under  which  alone  I  was  arrested  thirteen  months  ago, 
was  defied  and  spit  upon  at  your  State  Convention  of  1863 
by  the  gallant  gentleman  who  bore  the  standard  as  your  candi 
date  for  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  by  every  Democratic  press 
and  public  speaker  ever  since.  It  is  dead.  From  the  first  it 
was  against  the  Constitution  and  laws,  and  without  validity ; 
and  all  proceedings  under  it  were  and  are  utterly  null  and  void 
and  of  no  effect.  The  indignant  voice  of  condemnation  long 
since  went  forth  from  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  and  press 
of  America,  and  from  all  free  countries  in  Europe,  with  entire 
unanimity.  And  more  recently,  too,  the  <  platform  7  of  an  earn 
est,  numerous  and  most  formidable  convention  of  the  sincere 
Republicans,  and  still  further,  the  emphatic  letter  of  acceptance 
by  the  candidate  of  that  Convention,  General  JohnC.  Fremont, 
the  first  candidate  also  of  the  Republican  party  for  the  Presi 
dency  eight  years  ago,  upon  the  rallying  cry  of  Free  Speech 
and  a  Free  Press,  give  renewed  hope  that  at  last  the  reign  of 
arbitrary  power  is  about  to  be  brought  to  an  end  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  neither  just  nor  fit,  therefore,  that  the  wrongs  in 
flicted  under  '  Order  Thirty-Eight/  and  the  after-edicts  and  acts 
of  such  power,  should  any  longer  be  endured  —  certainly  not 
by  me  alone.  But  every  ordinary  means  of  redress  has  first 
been  exhausted ;  yet  either  by  the  direct  agency  of  the  Admin 
istration  and  its  subordinates,  or  through  its  influence  or  intim 
idation,  or  because  of  want  of  jurisdiction  in  the  civil  courts  to 
meet  a  case  which  no  American  ever  in  former  times  conceived 
to  be  possible  here,  all  have  failed.  Counsel  applied  in  my 
behalf  to  an  unjust  judge  for  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  It  was 
denied  ;  and  now  the  privilege  of  that  writ  is  suspended  by  Act 
of  Congress  and  Executive  order  in  every  State.  The  Demo 
cratic  Convention  of  Ohio,  one  year  ago,  by  a  resolution  for 
mally  presented  through  a  committee  of  your  best  and  ablest 
men,  in  person,  at  Washington,  demanded  of  the  President, 
in  behalf  of  a  very  large  minority  of  the  people,  a  revoca- 
cation  of  the  edict  of  banishment.  Pretending  that  the  public 
safety  then  required  it,  he  refused,  saying  at  the  same  time 
that  t  it  would  afford  him  pleasure  to  comply  as  soon  as  he 
could  by  any  means  be  made  to  believe  that  the  public  safety 
would  not  suffer  by  it.'  One  year  has  elapsed,  yet  this  hollow 
pretence  is  still  tacitly  asserted  ;  and  to-day  I  am  here  to  prove 
it  unfounded  in  fact.  I  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  359 

United  States ;  and  because  Congress  had  never  conferred  juris 
diction  in  behalf  of  a  citizen  tried  by  a  tribunal  unknown  for 
such  purposes  to  the  law,  and  expressly  forbidden  by  the  Con 
stitution,  it  was  powerless  to  redress  the  wrong.  The  time  has 
therefore  arrived  when  it  becomes  me,  as  a  citizen  of  Ohio  and 
of  the  United  States,  to  demand,  and  by  my  own  act  to  vindi 
cate,  the  rights,  liberties  and  privileges  which  I  neyer  forfeited, 
but  of  which  for  so  many  months  I  have  been  deprived. 
Wherefore,  men  of  Ohio,  I  am  again  in  your  midst  to-day.  I 
owe  duties  to  the  State  and  am  here  to  discharge  them.  I  have 
rights  as  a  citizen,  and  am  hereto  assert  them  :  a  wife  and  child 
and  home,  and  would  enjoy  all  the  pleasures  which  are  implied 
in  these  cherished  words.  But  I  am  here  for  peace,  not  turbu 
lence;  for  quiet,  not  convulsion;  for  order  and  law, not  anarchy . 
Let  no  man  of  the  Democratic  party  begin  any  act  of  violence 
or  disorder  ;  but  let  none  shrink  from  any  responsibility,  how 
ever  urgent,  if  forced  upon  him.  Careful  of  the  rights  of  others, 
let  him  see  to  it  that  he  fully  and  fearlessly  exact  his  own. 
Subject  to  rightful  authority  in  all  things,  let  him  submit  to 
excess  or  ursupation  in  nothing.  Obedient  to  Constitution  and 
law,  let  him  demand  and  have  the  full  measure  of  protection 
which  law  and  Constitution  secure  to  him. 

"  Men  of  Ohio  : —  You  have  already  vindicated  your  right 
to  hear :  it  is  now  my  duty  to  assert  my  right  to  speak.  Where 
fore,  as  to  the  sole  offence  for  which  I  was  arrested,  imprisoned 
and  banished,  free  speech  in  criticism  and  condemnation  of  the 
Administration,  an  Administration  fitly  described  in  a  recent 
public  paper  by  one  of  its  early  supporters,  k  marked  at  home 
by  disregard  of  constitutional  rights,  by  its  violation  of  personal 
liberty  and  the  liberty  of  the  press,  and,  as  its  crowning  shame, 
by  its  abandonment  of  the  right  of  asylum,  a  right  especially 
dear  to  all  free  nations  abroad:'  I  repeat  here  to-day,  and 
will  again,  and  yet  again,  so  long  as  I  live,  or  the  Constitution 
and  our  present  form  of  Government  shall  survive,  the 
words  then  spoken  and  the  appeal  at  that  time  made,  and  now 
enforced  by  one  year  more  of  taxation  and  debt,  and  of  blood 
and  disaster,  entreating  the  people  to  change  the  public  servants 
and  their  policy,  not  by  force,  but  peaceably,  through  the  ballot. 
I  now  and  here  reiterate  in  their  utmost  extent  and  with  all 
their  significancy,  I  repeat  them,  one  and  all,  in  no  spirit  of 
challenge  or  bravado,  but  as  earnest,  sober,  solemn  truth  and 
warning  to  the  people. 


360  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"Upon  another  subject  allow  me  here  a  word. 

"A  powerful,  widely  spread  and  very  dangerous  secret^ 
oath-bound  combination  among  the  friends  of  the  Administra 
tion,  known  as  the  ' Loyal  Union  League/  exists  in  every  State; 
yet  the  very  men  who  control  it  charge  persistently  upon  the 
members  of  the  Democratic  party  that  they  have  organised — 
especially  in  the  Northwest  —  the  'Order  of  Knights  of  the 
Golden  Circle/  or  some  other  secret  society,  treasonable  or 
'  disloyal '  in  its  character,  affiliated  with  the  South,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  armed  resistance  to  the  authority  of  the  Federal  and 
State  Governments.  Whether  any  such  ever  existed  I  do  not 
know  i  but  the  charge  that  organizations  of  that  sort,  or  having 
any  such  purpose,  do  now  exist  among  members  of  that  party 
in  Ohio  or  other  non-slaveholding  States,  is  totally  and  posi 
tively  false.  That  lawful  political  or  party  associations  have- 
been  established,  having  as  their  object  the  organising  and 
strengthening  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  its  success  in  the 
coming  Presidential  election,  and  designed  as  a  counter-move 
ment  to  the  so-called  ( Union  Leagues/  and  therefore  secret  in 
their  proceedings,  is  very  probable ;  and  however  objectionable 
hitherto,  and  in  ordinary  times,  I  recognise  to  the  fullest  extent 
not  the  lawfulness  only,  but  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  such 
organizations;  for  'when  bad  men  combine,  good  men  must 
associate/  But  they  are  no  conspiracy  against  the  Government, 
and  their  members  are  not  conspirators,  but  patriots  —  men  not 
leagued  together  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Constitution  or  the 
laws,  and  still  less  of  liberty,  but  firmly  united  for  the  preser 
vation  and  support  of  these  great  objects.  There  is  indeed  a 
'  conspiracy '  very  powerful,  very  ancient,  and  I  trust  that 
before  long  I  may  add  strongly  consolidated  also,  upon  sound 
principles  and  destined  yet  to  be  triumphant  —  a  conspiracy 
known  as  the  Democratic  party,  the  present  object  of  which  is 
the  overthrow  of  the  Administration  in  November  next,  not  by 
force,  but  through  the  ballot-box1,  and  the  election  of  a  President 
who  shall  be  true  to  his  oath,  to  liberty,  and  the  Constitution. 
This  is  the  sole  conspiracy  of  which  I  know  anything ;  and  I 
am  proud  to  be  one  of  the  conspirators.  If  any  other  exist, 
looking  to  unlawful  armed  resistance  to  the  Federal  or  State 
authorities  anywhere  in  the  exercise  of  their  legal  and  consti 
tutional  rights,  I  admonish  all  persons  concerned  that  the  act 
is  treason  and  the  penalty  death.  But  I  warn  also  the  men  in 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  361 

power  that  there  is  a  vast  multitude,  a  host  whom  they  cannot 
number,  bound  together  by  the  strongest  and  holiest  ties,  to 
defend  by  whatever  means  the  exigencies  of  the  times  shall 
demand,  their  natural  and  constitutional  rights  as  freemen,  at 
all  hazards  and  to  the  last  extremity. 

"  Three  years  have  now  passed,  men  of  Ohio,  and  the  great 
issue,  Constitutional  Liberty  and  Free  Popular  Government,  is 
still  before  you.  To  you  I  again  commit  it,  confident  that  in 
this  the  time  of  their  greatest  peril  you  will  be  found  worthy 
of  the  ancestors  who  for  so  many  ages  in  England  and  America, 
on  the  field,  in  prison  and  upon  the  scaffold,  defended  them 
against  tyrants  and  usurpers,  whether  in  council  or  in  arms." 

The  welcome  which  Mr.  Vallandigham  received  from  the 
Democracy  of  the  whole  country  was  of  the  most  cordial  and 
enthusiastic  kind.  The  following  from  the  Philadelphia  Age 
reflects  the  spirit  of  the  Democratic  press  throughout  the 
Union : — 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  has  returned  from  exile  in  Canada,  to 
his  home  in  Dayton,  Ohio.  He  should  be  welcomed  by  every 
true  friend  of  constitutional  liberty.  He  has  been  a  martyr 
for  those  great  principles  which  underlie  our  republican  form 
of  government,  and  for  his  bold  advocacy  of  them  has  been 
punished  by  a  process  unknown  to  the  law.  We  are  sure  that 
every  Democrat  is  glad  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  has  thus  cut 
the  Gordian  knot  and  brought  the  Lincoln  Administration 
squarely  to  the  issue.  "We  will  now  have  the  great  question 
tried  whether  a  military  tool  of  a  fanatical  party  has  the  right 
to  seize  a  citizen  and  send  him  into  exile.  If  Mr.  Lincoln 
allows  Mr.  Vallandigham  to  remain  in  Ohio  unmolested,  he 
virtually  acknowledges  that  the  arrest  and  punishment  by  mil 
itary  commission  was  an  outrage.  If,  on  the  contrary,  Mr. 
Lincoln  sends  his  minions  to  again  arrest  Mr.  Vallandigham, 
he  will  provoke  a  new  contest.  The  Democracy  of  Ohio  and 
Illinois  have  pledged  themselves  to  protect  the  exile  against 
everything  but  judicial  process,  and  no  ruler  with  a  Southern 
rebellion  on  his  hands  will  dare  to  trifle  with  the  feelings  of 
the  millions  of  the  West. 


362     LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

"Already  the  fanatics  are  beginning  to  urge  a  second  arrest 
of  Mr.  Vallandigham.  Not  satisfied  with  the  blood  already 
spilled,  they  wish  to  spread  the  desolation  of  war  further.  A 
free  citizen  is  arrested  for  no  crime,  and  after  a  mock  trial  by 
an  illegal  tribunal,  is  sent  out  of  the  country.  He  returns 
again ;  finding  that  the  Government  will  not  repair  the  wrong 
done,  he  falls  back  upon  his  reserved  rights,  and  does  it  him 
self.  He  returns  to  his  country,  and  receives  a  welcome,  spon 
taneous  and  heartfelt,  before  which  the  tinsel  and  hollowness 
of  his  oppressor's  reception  in  Philadelphia  pales.  Pie  goes  to 
his  home,  and  his  fellow-citizens  resolve  to  stand  by  him.  In 
Illinois  they  endorse  the  determination  of  their  Ohio  brethren ; 
and  now,  if  another  outrage  is  attempted,  the  people  who  for 
so  long  submitted  to  insult  and  oppression,  will  defend  their 
rights  and  liberties  with  their  own  hands.  We  think  Mr. 
Lincoln  will  quail  before  the  firm  front  of  the  West.  Mr.  Val- 
iandigham  will  be  unmolested.  The  joker  and  his  party  will 
be  too  cowardly  to  try  a  new  outrage. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham  goes  to  the  Chicago  Convention,  to 
which  he  has  been  elected  as  delegate,  with  great  eclat.  To 
represent  a  constituency  who  desire  free  speech,  he  braves  all 
the  bayonets  and  bastiles  of  the  Abolition  party.  We  know 
he  will  do  his  whole  duty  at  the  Convention,  and  that  every 
delegate  will  extend  a  welcome  to  the  man  who  has,  perhaps, 
made  more  sacrifice  for  his  principles  than  any  other  patriot  in 
America.  The  great  Democratic  party  must  support  him.  He 
has  done  only  what  was  right.  He  has  committed  no  wrong, 
been  guilty  of  no  crime.  He  has  acted  only  as  a  free  citizen 
of  a  free  country  should  do ;  and  if  the  Administration  again 
attempt  its  injustice,  it  will  find  there  are  millions  of  men  in 
the  North  as  free,  as  bold,  and  as  determined  as  Mr.  Vallan 
digham." 

The  New  York  News  thus  notices  his  return : — 

"  His  presence  before  the  Convention  created  general  sur 
prise  and  the  most  unbounded  enthusiasm.  Every  link  be 
tween  himself  and  his  fellow-citizens  seems  to  have  been 
strengthened  by  exile.  He  spoke  in  the  public  square  at  Ham 
ilton,  in  the  same  manly  vein  and  in  the  same  spirit  of  in 
dependence  and  patriotism  that  were  his  characteristics  before 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  363 

he  was  kidnapped  from  his  home  by  the  military  power.  His 
martyrdom  has  not  cooled  the  ardor  of  his  patriotism  nor  en 
feebled  the  vigor  of  his  eloquence.  He  was  banished  for  utter 
ing  truths  that  were  unpalatable  to  the  Administration,  and  he 
has  marked  the  day  of  his  return  by  repeating  the  offence 
against  tyranny.  We  do  not  know  what  action  th.e  Adminis 
tration  propose  to  take  in  regard  to  his  return,  but  we  are  con 
vinced  that  popular  opinion  will  protect  him  in  the  exercise  of 
his  rights  as  an  American  citizen." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  came  home  with  the  intention  of  stay 
ing.  Had  any  attempt  been  made  to  violently  and  illegally 
arrest  him,  he  would  have  resisted.  Within  the  Union  and 
under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  he  would  have  fought  for  his  con 
stitutional  rights,  and  a  million  of  brave  men  would  have 
flocked  to  his  standard  and  gallantly  sustained  him.  This  the 
Administration  knew,  and  wisely  forbore  to  molest  him. 

A  few  weeks  after  his  return,  Mr.  Yallandigham  met  with 
a  sore  domestic  affliction  in  the  death  of  his  revered  and  be 
loved  mother.  Hearing  of  her  illness  he  was  anxious  to  visit 
her,  but  though  secure  at  home,  surrounded  and  guarded  by 
his  friends,  it  was  not  yet  considered  safe  for  him  to  travel. 
Unable  to  see  her,  he  wrote  her  the  following  letter : — 

'DAYTON,  OHIO,  July  7th,  1864. 
"  My  dearest,  dear  Mother : — 

"That  I  cannot  with  safety  start  to  see  you  in  your 
present  illness,  is  the  sorest  of  afflictions.  But  while  I 
feel  perfectly  secure  here,  I  think  the  Administration  would 
be  but  too  glad  to  find  me  alone  at  a  distance  from  home. 
This  danger  too  will  pass  by  before  long,  but  at  present  it 
may  be  too  imminent  to  risk;  and  I  know,  my  dearest  mother, 
terrible  as  the  trial  is  to  both,  you  would  not  want  me  sub 
jected  to  imprisonment  again.  And  besides,  I  cannot  help 
hoping,  and  indeed  believing,  that  you  will  yet  be  spared  this 


364  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

time,  so  that  I  can  come  and  spend  a  happy  time  with  you  yet 
in  the  dear  old  home.  But  give  yourself  no  uneasiness  in  any 
event  about  me.  'The  Lord  is  my  shepherd/  Neither  fear 
for  E.  nor  R.  I  will  do  all  for  them  in  my  power, 
and  they  will  remain  at  the  old  homestead.  Oh  how  great 
is  the  denial  which  keeps  me  away  from  you !  But  L. 
and  C.  go,  and  she  will  tell  you  all  and  do  all  for  you  that 
I  could.  So  good-bye,  dearest,  dear  mother.  Still  hoping 
and  expecting  to  see  you  this  summer  on  earth, 

"  I  am  yet,  as  all  my  life,  your  devoted  and  affectionate  son} 

"  CLEMENT. 
"  Mrs.  R  Yallandigham,  New  Lisbon,  Ohio." 

The  day  after  he  wrote  this  letter,  and  before  it  reached  her, 
she  departed  this  life,  and  hearing  of  her  death  he  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  his  brother  James  : — 

"DAYTON,  OHIO,  July  10th,  1864. 

"My  Dear  Brother: — Yours  of  the  8th  I  received  yester 
day.  On  the  day  previous  I  received  also  the  despatch  to  the 
Empire  announcing  the  death  of  our  dear  blessed  mother. 
Words  cannot  express  the  feelings  of  my  heart  at  the  thought 
that  I  have  not  been  in  a  position  to  enable  me  to  be  with  her 
and  with  you  all.  But  it  is  a  part  of  the  evil  times  upon 
which  we  have  fallen.  Her  death  was  somewhat  unexpected, 
for  until  Mr.  Robertson's  letter  of  the  4th  inst.  I  did  not  feel 
that  there  was  any  danger,  and  even  then  I  hoped  that  she 
might  become  better  for  a  little  while  longer,  so  that  I  might 
see  her  yet  again.  But  Providence  ordered  it  otherwise.  She 
was  indeed  a  noble  mother,  and  I  reckon  it  among  the  chief 
of  my  blessings  that  I  was  the  son  of  such  a  mother.  She 
was  too  a  truly  pious  woman,  and  no  purer  spirit  ever  entered 
upon  the  eternal  rest  of  heaven.  Though  I  could  not  see  her 
before  her  death,  I  rejoice  that  she  lived  to  see  my  return  to 
my  own  country  and  home." 

It  was  Mr.  "Vrallandigham?s  intention  when  he  returned  to 
remain  for  some  time  quietly  at  home,  and  partake  of  that 
domestic  enjoyment  in  his  own  family  and  beneath  his  own 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  365 

roof  of  which  for  more  than  a  year  he  had  been  deprived.  But 
he  was  continually  invited  to  attend  and  address  political  meet 
ings,  and  some  of  these  invitations  he  felt  constrained  to  accept. 
On  the  13th  of  August  a  peace-meeting  was  held  in  Dayton, 
composed  not  only  of  Democrats  but  also  of  some  Republicans 
who  were  beginning  to  grow  weary  of  the  war.  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  did  not  intend  to  be  present,  or  at  least  to  take  any 
active  part  in  the  meeting.  After  its  organization,  however,  he 
was  waited  upon  by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  meeting,  and 
at  their  urgent  request  addressed  the  assemblage. 

On  the  18th  a  similar  meeting  was  held  in  Syracuse,  New 
York.  Mr.  Vallandigham  had  declined  a  written  invitation, 
but  a  special  messenger  was  sent  for  him  and  would  take  no 
denial,  and  he  accordingly  went.  It  was  an  immense  meeting, 
the  number  in  attendance  estimated  at  seventy-five  thousand, 
and  the  greatest  enthusiasm  prevailed.  He  addressed  the  vast 
multitude  in  an  earnest  speech,  advocating  peace,  urging  the 
calling  of  a  Convention  of  all  the  States  to  agree  upon  terms 
of  settlement  between  the  contending  parties  and  the  restoration 
of  the  old  Union — the  glorious  Union  established  by  the 
fathers. 

On  the  29th  of  August  the  Democratic  Convention  to  nomi 
nate  candidates  for  the  Presidency  and  Vice-Presidency  of  the 
United  States,  met  in  Chicago.  Mr.  Vallandigham  attended 
as  a  delegate  from  the  Third  Congressional  District  of  Ohio. 
His  reception  was  of  the  most  flattering  character ;  all  seemed 
eager  to  do  honor  to  the  man  who  had  suffered  so  much  in 
defence  of  Democratic  principles  and  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  people.  He  was  frequently  called  out  to  address  vast 
assemblages  collected  in  the  streets,  and  he  also  took  an  active 


366  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention;  and  when  General 
McClellan  was  nominated,  he  moved  that  the  nomination  be 
made  unanimous.  General  McClellan  was  not  his  first  choice, 
but  finding  that  he  was  more  acceptable  to  the  Convention  than 
any  other  candidate,  and  having  confidence  in  his  ability  and 
integrity,  he  voted  for  him,  and  in  the  canvass  gave  him  an 
earnest  and  cordial  support.  \. 

Although  by  a  combination  he  was  defeated  for  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  yet  Mr.  Vallandigham 
secured  practically  a  triumph  in  the  Committee  on  the  report 
which  they  made  to  the  Convention.  He  did  not,  as  we  have 
said  before,  regard  favorably  the  nomination  of  General 
McClellan,  and  many  of  his  best  friends  of  the  radical  Dem 
ocrats  were  surprised  and  some  of  them  angered  by  his  motion 
to  make  the  nomination  unanimous.  In  doing  so,  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  was  governed  by  these  motives :  he  had  long  been 
looked  upon  as  an  extreme  man  in  his  views ;  he  had  been  held 
responsible  for  Democratic  defeats,  on  account  of  his  alleged 
rashness  and  violence ;  there  was  that  feeling  in  the  Conven 
tion,  that  if  he  had  said  the  word  it  would  have  been  broken 
up;  he  felt  that  he  would  do  wrong  to  himself  and  to  his 
country  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  such  a  movement ;  and 
as  the  nomination  had  been  made,  the  platform  being  acceptable 
to  him,  it  was  better  to  make  the  best  of  the  situation.  So 
through  his  efforts  the  nomination  was  made  unanimous.  For 
this,  and  on  account  of  failure  to  secure  a  more  distinct  recog 
nition  of  the  principle  of  State  rights  in  the  platform,  he  was 
accused  of  weakness  by  some  few  of  the  extreme  State  rights 
men.  But  fortunately  for  him,  most  of  the  men  who  made 
this  accusation  of  want  of  firmness  were  individuals  who  had 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  367 

quailed  before  the  storm,  or  had  been  entirely  unheard  of  at 
the  time  when  he,  in  1861,  almost  single-handed  and  alone, 
with  unflinching  courage  and  undeviating  firmness,  had  faced 
the  full  fury  of  its  blast. 

There  is  a  class  of  men  who  flatter  themselves  that  they 
know  exactly  what  should  have  been  done,  and  what  they 
would  have  done  if  they  had  been  placed  in  the  position  of 
men  of  power  and  influence,  but  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  these 
wise  critics  never  attain  the  position  nor  acquire  the  power 
amongst  men  to  put  their  wisdom,  their  courage,  and  their 
firmness  into  practical  exercise.  When  McClellan's  letter  of  ac 
ceptance  came  out,  which  apparently  repudiated  a  portion  of 
the  platform,  Mr.  V.  was  highly  indignant,  at  first  refused  to 
give  the  General  any  further  support,  and  expressed  in  the 
violence  of  his  anger  his  regrets  that  he  had  ever  lent  any 
countenance  to  his  nomination ;  but  upon  calm  reflection  and 
counsel  with  wise  and  influential  Democrats,  being  convinced 
that  he  would  have  considerable  influence  in  shaping  the  policy 
of  the  Democratic  candidate  if  he  was  elected,  he  concluded, 
as  between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  General  McClellan,  the  latter  was 
greatly  preferable. 

In  the  campaign  that  followed  Mr.  Vallandigham  took  an 
active  part,  addressing  meetings  in  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  many  in  his  own  State.  And  at  these 
meetings  he  spoke  with  the  same  freedom  and  boldness  and 
earnestness  that  he  had  been  accustomed  to  use  before  his  ban 
ishment  —  denouncing  the  abuses  of  the  Administration  and 
their  encroachments  on  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  urging 
the  adoption  of  those  measures  that  would  result  in  an  imme 
diate  close  of  the  war  and  the  speedy  restoration  of  the 
Union. 


368  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

The  campaign  closed  with  the  election  in  November,  and 
Mr.  Yallandigham  gladly  retired  to  his  home,  where  in  atten 
tion  to  his  private  affairs,  which  had  for  a  long  time  been  much 
neglected,  in  reading  and  study,  and  in  the  society  of  his 
family  and  friends,  he  pleasantly  spent  the  winter. 


CHAPTEK    XY. 

PARTISAN    PROSCRIPTION    AND    THE    SONS    OF 
LIBERTY. 

ONE  of  the  saddest  parts  of  the  task  of  giving  the  story  of 
Mr.  Vallandigham's  life  during  the  war,  is  the  necessity  of 
reviving  the  memories  of  the  outrages  committed  by  the  dom 
inant  party  during  that  melancholy  period  of  our  history. 
Thousands  upon  thousands  of  men,  noble,  kind,  and  generous 
in  their  impulses  naturally,  were  so  carried  away  by  the  mad 
ness  which  ruled  the  hour,  that  it  was  utterly  impossible  for 
them  to  do  justice  to  the  motives  and  feelings  of  their  Demo 
cratic  neighbors,  and  in  some  instances  they  were  guilty  of  acts 
which  will  prey  upon  their  minds  as  long  as  they  live.  The 
very  demon  of  hate  took  possession  of  the  souls  of  many  who 
had  never  been  suspected  before  of  possessing  any  other  than 
the  most  kind  and  amiable  feelings.  The  writer  has  heard 
numbers  of  Eepublicans,  in  late  years,  since  the  excitement  is 
over,  and  opportunity  been  furnished  calmly  and  dispassion 
ately  to  review  the  past,  express  profound  and  no  doubt  sin 
cere  regret  for  their  violence,  uncharitableness  and  bitterness  in 
those  sad  days.  It  is  because  so  many  men  now  living  feel 
tin's  way  that  it  is  unpleasant  to  recall  the  declarations,  acts,, 
cruelties,  and  persecutions  of  the  Kepublican  party  at  that 
period  against  their  Democratic  fellow-citizens.  Yet  it  would 
24 


370  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM. 

be  utterly  impossible  to  give  a  correct  idea  of  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham  and  his  political  career  without  adverting  to  these  things. 
When  the  war  commenced,  a  reign  of  terror  was  inaugur 
ated  all  over  the  land.  Freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press 
was  for  a  while  entirely  suppressed.  Very  early  was  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  a  special  object  of  attack :  it  was  attempted  to  pro 
scribe  him  politically,  to  cast  him  outside  of  the  pale  of  the 
church,  and  to  ostracise  him  socially,  and  for  a  time  it  required 
considerable  moral  courage  to  induce  a  man  openly  and  pub 
licly  to  avow  friendship  for  him.  During  a  part  of  1862  this 
feeling  for  a  short  time  moderated,  but  in  1863  it  broke  out 
again  with  tenfold  fury,  and  was  maintained  until  after  the  close 
of  the  war.  Arbitrary  arrests  took  place  all  over  the  country. 
Democratic  speakers  were  mobbed,  Democratic  meetings  were 
suppressed,  and  hundreds  of  Democrats  all  over  the  country 
were  imprisoned,  and  some  murdered  in  cold  blood,  for  no  other 
reason  than  because  they  were  Democrats,  and  refused  to  as 
sent  to  the  policy  of  the  then  existing  Administration.  It  was 
in  consequence  of  this  condition  of  affairs,  and  the  existence 
of  secret  societies  armed  and  organised  in  support  of  the 
Republican  party,  that  the  organization  known  as  the  Sons  of 
Liberty  was  formed.  It  was  organised  as  an  offset  to  the 
Loyal  Leagues  and  other  secret  societies  of  the  dominant  party, 
for  the  purpose  of  defending  Democratic  presses,  meetings,  and 
speakers,  for  the  mutual  protection  of  its  members,  and  for  the 
protection  of  the  ballot-box.  The  organization  proper  had  no 
affiliation  and  no  purpose  to  affiliate  with  the  men  in  the  South 
who  were  fighting  for  separation.  There  were  men,  however, 
who  were  in  favor  of  disunion  that  joined  it,  and  in  some 
places  endeavored  to  use  it  to  further  the  cause  of  Southern 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  371 

independence ;  but  this  was  not  warranted  by  the  constitution 
or  ritual  of  the  order,  and  wholly  unauthorised  by  its  chief 
officers.  Mr.  Vallandigham  and  many  wise,  reflecting  men 
regarded  the  liberties  of  ihe  country  in  danger;  they  were 
willing  to  submit  to  any  amount  of  personal  abuse  and  ob 
loquy  while  the  ballot  remained  free,  but  should  it  be  assailed 
and  its  freedom  destroyed,  they  had  determined  to  fight,  and 
therefore  they  resolved  to  organise. 

Many  years  before  the  war,  a  secret  society  having  for  its 
main  objects  the  acquisition  of  Mexico  and  Cuba,  was  organised. 
It  was  commenced  in  the  South,  but  extended  northward  as 
time  advanced.  From  the  objects  of  the  organization  it  can  be 
well  understood  that  a  majority  of  its  members  were  Southern 
men,  and  in  the  North  were  Democrats.  It  was  called  the 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  K.  G.  C.  After  the  war  com 
menced  the  Northern  members  of  this  society  made  several 
modifications  in  its  constitution  and  ritual,  and  it  was  rechris- 
tened  and  became  the  Order  of  American  Knights,  O.  A.  K. 
In  1863,  for  the  reasons  already  mentioned,  the  necessity  of 
some  kind  of  organization  for  mutual  protection  among  Demo 
crats  was  seriously  felt,  and  during  the  latter  part  of  that  year 
a  movement  commenced  to  change  the  organization  of  the 
O.  A.  K.'s  and  make  it  a  great  political  society,  and  to  extend 
its  power  and  usefulness  throughout  the  United  States.  As 
early  as  the  year  1862,  Mr.  Vallandigham  had  been  applied  to 
by  members  of  the  Order  of  4.merican  Knights  to  join  that 
organization,  but  had  refused  because  he  apprehended  that  it 
might  have  some  connection  with  the  Southern  Government, 
or  place  the  members  of  it  under  some  sort  of  obligation  that 
was  inconsistent  with  the  oath  of  allegiance  of  a  citizen  of  the 


372  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANBIGHAM. 

United  States.  He  was  again  spoken  to  on  the  subject  in  the 
first  part  of  1863,  but  again  refused  for  the  same  reasons  and 
because  of  his  opposition  to  secret  political  societies  generally, 
and  for  the  additional  reason  that  the  fall  elections  in  1862 
were  so  favorable  to  the  Democracy  that  it  appeared  improbable 
that  the  Administration  would  dare  to  continue  much  longer  its 
persecutions  of  Democrats  and  illegal  arrests.  But  his  own 
arrest  soon  after,  and  the  conduct  of  the  Administration  and 
the  Republican  party  during  the  year  following  that  event,  con 
vinced  him  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  organising  for  the  pro 
tection  of  life,  liberty  and  property,  and  to  guard  against  any 
attack  upon  the  ballot-box.  He  was  not  long  in  making  known 
to  parties  interested  his  views  upon  the  subject ;  and  in  conver 
sation  with  members  of  the  Order  of  American  Knights  in  the 
early  part  of  1864,  he  communicated  to  them  the  information 
that  if  he  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  modifying  any  objec 
tionable  features  in  its  constitution,  and  if  the  whole  thing  was 
remodelled,  he  would  be  willing  to  join  it. 

About  the  middle  of  February  1864,  Mr.  Green  and  Dr. 
James  A.  Barrett  visited  him  in  regard  to  this  matter,  at 
Windsor,  Canada  West.  Of  this  interview,  in  his  testimony 
before  the  Military  Commission  which  tried  L.  P.  Milligan, 
Esq.,  he  gave  the  following  account : — 

"After  discussing  some  political  questions,  they  detailed 
their  business,  saying  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  New  York 
to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  what  was,  as 
I  understood,  the  Order  of  American  Knights;  that  some 
material  changes  were  to  be  made  in  it,  or  something  to  be 
done  in  connection  with  it.  They  said  that  it  numbered  many 
thousands,  and  they  desired  that  I  would  become  the  chief  officer 
of  it.  My  answer  was,  that  I  had  understood  there  was  some 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM  373 

such  organization  perhaps  known  by  that  name,  in  existence  a 
year  or  more ;  that  I  never  heard  of  it  previous  to  the  fall 
of  1862;  that  I  had  always  declined  having  any  connection 
with  it  because  I  apprehended  that  it  might  have  some  connec 
tion  with  the  Southern  Government,  or  place  members  of  it 
under  some  sort  of  obligation  with  reference  to  that  Government 
that  was  inconsistent  with  the  oath  of  allegiance  of  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States ;  and  that  I  would  belong  to  none,  directly  or 
indirectly,  looking  to  any  sort  of  connection  with  those  who 
were  in  arms  against  the  Federal  authorities.  I  went  on  then 
to  express  my  convictions  as  to  secret  political  organizations ; 
that  circumstances  altered  cases,  and  whereas  I  had  always 
hitherto  opposed  them  as  a  member  of  the  Democratic  party, 
now  I  believed  the  time  had  come  when  they  were  useful 
and  necessary,  provided  they  were  kept  legitimate  and  lawful. 
The  assurance  was  given  by  these  gentlemen  that  there  was  noth 
ing  of  the  kind  I  had  apprehended ;  at  all  events  there  was  to 
be  a  change  made,  or  a  new  arrangement  in  the  organization,  and 
that  all  objections  of  that  kind,  if  any  existed,  would  be  obvi 
ated.  And  further,  that  all  they  proposed  was  a  simple  and 
informal  communication  of  the  ritual,  principles  and  obliga 
tions.  With  reference  to  the  purposes  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
they  assured  me  that  it  was  only  a  political  organization, 
having  reference  to  affairs  in  the  States  that  had  adhered  to  the 
Union  and  recognised  the  Federal  Government  and  its  authori 
ties.  I  accordingly  consented,  and  informally,  by  reading  in 
part  and  showing  in  part,  without  any  attempt  at  ceremony, 
the  ritual,  principles  and  obligations  were  made  known  to  me. 
No  part  of  any  of  them  was  read  in  full  to  me,  but  the  books 
and  pamphlets  were  left  with  me  for  examination.  The  prin 
cipal  objects  with  reference  to  which  I  made  inquiry,  as  stated 
there,  were  declared  to  be  of  a  political  character,  and  for  the 
defence  of  members  of  the  Democratic  party." 


Messrs.  Barrett  and  Green,  after  their  interview  with  him, 
then  proceeded  to  New  York  to  attend  the  Supreme  Council 
of  their  Order.  At  this  Council  the  organization  known  as 
"The  Sons  of  Liberty"  was  formed;  the  ritual  with  some  mo 
dification  of  the  O.  A.  K.?s  was  adopted,  but  in  a  good  many 


374  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

respects  changes  were  made  with  what  had  been  the  constitu 
tion  of  the  latter  association.  About  the  1st  of  March,  1864, 
H.  H.  Dodd  and  Dr.  Massey,  who  had  been  present  at  the 
meeting  in  New  York,  came  to  Windsor  to  see  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham  and  inform  him  of  what  had  been  done.  They  brought 
him  word  that  he  had  been  chosen  chief  officer  of  the  new  organi 
zation.  They  informed  him  also  of  the  details  of  the  ritual 
and  the  new  constitution  which  had  been  adopted,  but  brought 
no  copy  of  it  with  them ;  and  Mr.  V.  never  saw  a  printed  copy  of 
it  until  the  28th  of  March,  1865,  when  to  all  practical  purposes 
the  society  had  been  disbanded.  After  hearing  the  explana 
tions  of  these  gentlemen  of  the  objects  in  view,  becoming  satis 
fied  that  nothing  beyond  the  protection  of  Democrats  and 
rightful  resistance  to  any  attempts  to  interfere  with  freedom  of 
elections  was  contemplated,  he  agreed  to  be  sworn  in  as  Grand 
Commander  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty.  The  oath  of  office  was 
administered  by  Dr.  Massey,  and  it  was  simply  "  to  support 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  faithfully  to  dis 
charge  the  duties  of  chief  officer  of  the  organization." 

Scarcely  three  weeks  had  elapsed  after  the  inauguration  of 
Mr.  Vallandigham  as  the  Grand  Commander  of  the  Sons  of 
Liberty,  before  the  mighty  impulse  of  his  strong  will  and 
determined  energy  was  felt  all  over  the  great  States  of  the  North 
west.  Lodges  were  organised  in  almost  every  county  in  the 
States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Ohio,  by  the  time  the  frosty 
empire  of  winter  had  given  way  to  the  gentle  but  potent  in 
fluences  of  Spring ;  and  in  other  States  the  organization  rapidly 
increased  in  numbers,  so  that  in  the  month  of  June  over  two 
hundred  thousand  men  had  been  initiated.  The  secret  agents 
were  everywhere  at  wrork ;  and  in  every  little  village  and  ham- 


LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM.     375 

let  in  the  States  we  have  mentioned,  during  the  spring  of 
1864,  the  mysterious  gatherings  assembled  in  strange  and  out- 
of-the-way  places,  and  were  instructed  in  the  doctrine  and  the 
ritual  of  the  order.  But  an  organization  so  novel  and  so  wide 
spread  could  not  long  escape  the  attention  of  the  members  of 
the  Republican  party  or  elude  the  vigilance  of  the  Adminis 
tration,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  city  of  any  size  where  the 
Sons  of  Liberty  had  any  strength  that  had  not  amongst  the 
members  of  the  association  some  spy  or  detective.  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  quickly  discovered  that  there  was  scarcely  anything  of 
general  importance  made  known  to  the  members  of  the  organ 
ization  that  was  not  immediately  communicated  to  the  Adminis 
tration,  and  he  soon  became  wearied  of  a  system  which  had  in  it  the 
element  of  secrecy  which  provokes  obloquy  without  any  of  the 
advantages  which  flow  from  concealment  and  reticence  in  polit 
ical  affairs.  In  fact,  his  temper  of  mind  was  such  that  con 
cealment  or  duplicity  of  any  kind  was  hateful  to  him.  He 
was  disgusted,  too,  by  the  absurd  ritual  and  the  ridiculous 
ceremonies  of  initiation,  and  continually  angered  by  the  im 
prudence  of  members  of  the  order.  He  was  so  thoroughly 
convinced  of  the  failure  of  the  organization  as  a  secret  society 
that  he  did  not  communicate  to  any  one  of  its  members  his 
contemplated  return  on  the  15th  of  June,  and  his  arrival  in 
Hamilton  was  as  complete  a  surprise  to  the  Sons  of  Liberty  as 
to  the  Loyal  Leagues  of  Ohio. 

In  the  latter  part  of  May  he  became  suspicious  that  an  effort 
was  being  made  to  use  the  Sons  of  Liberty  for  the  furtherance 
of  the  cause  of  disunion,  to  make  it  an  offensive  instead  of  a 
defensive  organization.  In  an  interview  with  a  Confederate 
agent  he  satisfied  himself  that  the  Confederate  Administration 


376  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

would  .not  make  any  alliance  with  the  Democrats  of  the  North 
west  except  upon  the  terms  of  absolute  separation  forever 
Immediately  after  this  he  had  a  meeting  with  one  of  his 
"Western  coadjutors,  who  was  actually  in  favor  of  assisting  the 
South  without  any  promise  or  guarantee  from  their  so-called 
government  of  a  restoration  of  the  Union,  or  even  the  admis 
sion  of  the  Western  States  to  a  new  Union.  Upon  learning 
the  views  of  this  gentleman,  Mr.  Vallandigham  became 
violently  excited.  With  flashing  eye  and  clenched  fist  he  de 
nounced  the  stupidity  of  the  men  who  were  willing  to  precip 
itate  a  revolution  and  fight  for  a  government  which,  if  suc 
cessful  in  accomplishing  its  independence,  would  consider  them 
aliens  and  outcasts.  "  I  will  fight  for  no  cause,"  he  exclaimed, 
"wherein  victory  itself  is  dishonor;  I  will  fight  for  no  gov 
ernment  by  which  my  State  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  foreign  land 
forever.  I  do  not  believe  the  present  Administration  of  the 
Confederate  States  represents  the  views  of  the  people  of  the 
South.  They  are  too  generous  and  too  brave  to  expect  men 
whom  they  intend  to  regard  forever  as  aliens,  to  fight  their 
battles  for  them.  They  are  opposed  to  the  Union  simply  as 
symbolised  by  Lincoln  and  Company,  but  they  cannot  oppose 
a  Union  where  their  enemies,  as  well  as  ours,  shall  be  politi 
cally  buried.  But  if  the  madness  of  the  Southern  leaders  re 
fusing  a  re-union  upon  most  favorable  terms  shall  result  in  the 
destruction  and  subjugation  of  the  Southern  people,  I  am  de 
termined  to  see  to  it  that  my  friends,  the  noble,  gallant 
thousands  who  stood  by  me,  and  who  now  stand  by  me,  an 
exile  and  an  outcast,  shall  not  suffer  in  the  same  way  and 
become  involved  in  the  same  wreck.  Not  a  hand  shall  be 
offered  to  assist  the  Southern  people  nor  a  shot  fired  in  their 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  377 

favor  if  I  can  control  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  until  it  is  distinctly 
understood  that  the  idea  of  permanent  disunion  is  entirely 
given  up  and  completely  abandoned.  If  I  hear  of  any  further 
developments,  under  existing  circumstances,  of  attempts  of 
members  of  our  order  to  assist  the  Southern  Government,  I 
will  myself  inform  the  Lincoln  Administration,  and  see  that 
the  authors  of  a  worse  than  abortive  revolution  are  promptly 
punished." 

This  was  substantially  his  language,  but  any  one  unac 
quainted  with  him  can  form  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  force  and 
earnestness  with  which  it  was  uttered.  He  sent  orders  to  all 
his  subordinate  commanders  to  beware  of  any  coalition  with 
Southern  agents,  or  any  movement  calculated  to  change  the 
order  from  being  a  society  for  defence  merely  and  mutual  pro 
tection,  to  an  offensive  and  revolutionary  organization.  Not 
withstanding  all  his  efforts  and  watchfulness,  however,  some  of 
the  order  were  induced  to  join  in  plans  of  action  which  rendered 
them  liable  to  the  charge  of  treason.  These  plans  were  indus 
triously  encouraged  by  detectives  employed  by  the  Federal 
Government,  and  upon  the  16th  of  August  it  was  understood 
in  several  lodges  of  the  order  that  an  uprising  against  the 
Federal  Government  should  take  place.  Knowing  well  Mr.  Y.'s 
views  upon  the  subject,  he  was  not  informed  of  it,  and  therefore 
upon  that  very  day  started  east  to  speak  in  New  York.  This 
uprising  would  have  probably  occurred  had  not  three  things 
conspired  to  prevent.  First,  there  was  no  competent  head 
directing  the  movement;  second,  it  was  discovered  in  time 
that  the  movement  was  not  only  not  known  by  the  Grand  Com 
mander,  but  was  against  his  most  positive  injunctions ;  third, 
in  places  where  men  were  rash  enough  to  disregard  the  reasons 


378  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

above  mentioned,  the  Administration  being  perfectly  well  aware 
of  all  the  details  of  the  movement,  prevented  its  development 
by  the  proper  military  and  police  disposition. 

Some  time  after  this  Mr.  V.  was  informed  of  it,  and  his 
indignation  knew  no  bounds.  "  What  do  these  men  mean," 
he  cried,  "by  acting  against  my  express  orders  ?  Do  they  think 
I  will  submit  to  such  dangerous  insubordination,  which  endan 
gers  not  only  the  success  of  the  Democracy  as  a  party,  but  puts 
our  wives  and  children  in  jeopardy  ?  "  He  was  told  that  it  was 
expected  that  a  revolution  once  being  started,  he  would  be 
dragged  in,  and  it  was  desired  that  he  should  be  the  head  of  it. 
"  I  want  to  be  the  head  of  it  then  before  it  starts,  if  it  has  to  be 
done ;  and  as  for  being  dragged  into  anything,  they  little  under 
stand  the  character  of  the  man  they  are  dealing  with  if  they 
imagine  for  one  moment  that  I  can  be  dragged  into  a  movement 
which  my  j udgment  does  not  approve  of."  The  account  of  these 
interviews  we  receive  from  a  man  of  strong  secession  or  Southern 
feelings,  who  was  very  much  disappointed  at  the  position  taken 
by  Mr.  Yallandigham.  While  it  is  probably  nearly  correct,  it 
is  very  likely  that,  unconsciously  to  himself,  it  is  somewhat 
colored  by  passing  through  the  medium  of  his  own  feelings  and 
prejudices.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  in  a  work  of  this  kind  that 
any  complete  history  of  the  doings  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  can 
be  given ;  this  much  we  give  in  order  to  vindicate  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  from  the  false  charges  that  were  made  against  him  in 
connection  with  this  organization.  Much  of  their  proceedings 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  were  never  known  to  him ;  but 
the  organization  had  an  important  influence  in  preventing  the 
general  use  of  actual  force  in  the  elections  of  1864.  During 
the  campaign  of  that  year,  the  feverish  excitement  amongst  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  379 

people  was  such  that  but  very  little  imprudence  upon  the  part 
of  the  leaders  of  either  of  the  great  parties  would  have  pre 
cipitated  the  country  into  a  civil  war. 

From  the  time  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  came  home  —  the 
15th  of  June,  1864  —  until  after  the  Presidential  election,  he 
was  continually  surrounded  and  followed  by  detectives.  Yet, 
although  constantly  under  their  espionage,  nothing  was  ever 
discovered,  in  language  or  conduct,  which  could  possibly  be 
construed  as  treasonable,  or  which  rendered  him  justly  liable  to 
arrest  by  the  United  States  authorities.  The  reason  was  that 
he  had  no  hidden,  treasonable  views  upon  the  subject  of  the 
war,  as  his  enemies  supposed.  At  last  one  of  these  detectives, 
who  had  heard  repeatedly  his  private  conversations  and  de 
clarations,  gave  up  his  pursuit  in  disgust,  and  reported : 
"  Vallandigham  talks  no  more  like  a  rebel  in  private,  no,  not 
as  much  as  he  does  in  his  public  speeches."  A  great  meeting 
of  the  order  was  held  in  Chicago  at  the  same  time  that  the 
Democratic  Convention  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  President 
met  there.  This  meeting,  which  was  expected  to  be  of  great 
importance,  really  amounted  to  very  little.  Mr.  Vallandigham's 
course  here  provoked  the  animosity  of  many  of  the  extreme 
men  of  the  order,  and  by  some  of  them  he  was  unjustly  ac 
cused  of  using  the  order  merely  for  his  own  personal  protection, 
without  having  any  ulterior  object.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr. 
Vallandigham  believed  that  the  course  advocated  by  some  of 
them  was  calculated  to  lead  to  a  permanent  division  of  the 
country,  and  to  this  he  was  utterly  opposed.  His  views  on 
this  subject  are  clearly  and  ably  set  forth  in  his  letter  to  the 
Young  Men's  Democratic  Association  of  Lancaster,  from  which 
we  make  the  following  extract: — 


380  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  The  fatal  mistake  of  the  South,  her  ( blunder,'  which  a 
false  morality  pronounces  worse  than  a  crime,  was  in  ignoring 
ths  great  American  idea  of  ONE  COUNTRY  —  not  an  impulse, 
not  a  theory,  not  a  mere  aspiration  of  national  vanity,  but  a 
commandment  written  by  the  finger  of  God  upon  the  rivers 
and  the  mountains  and  the  whole  lace  of  the  land,  and  graven 
thence  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people.  It  was  this,  not  anti- 
slavery,  which  held  the  border  slave  States  in  the  Union,  and 
stirred,  for  good  or  evil,  the  whole  North  and  West  to  such 
exertions  of  military,  naval  and  financial  force  as  never  before 
were  put  forth  by  any  nation.  And  it  was  this  grand  and  per 
vading  national  sentiment,  hedged  by  the  sanction  of  destiny, 
which,  according  to  the  measure  of  my  ability,  I  undertook  to 
expound  and  justify  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1 863, 
and  by  this  line  of  argumentation  to  establish  that  the  Union 
through  peace  was  inevitable.  Nothing  but  the  violence  of  an 
intense  counter-passion,  and  the  terrible  pressure  of  civil  war, 
could  have  suppressed,  even  for  a  time,  the  power  of  this 
sentiment  among  the  people  of  the  South  also.  Had  their 
leaders  forborne  to  demand  separation  and  a  distinct  govern 
ment,  adhering  to  the  old  flag,  and,  within  the  Union  under 
the  Constitution,  firmly  but  justly  required  new  guarantees 
for  old  rights  believed  to  be  in  peril,  they  might  not  indeed 
have  had  barren  and  deluding  sympathy  from  subjects,  and 
false  hopes  of  assistance  from  kings  and  emperors  in  Europe 
eager  for  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  American  Republic,  but 
they  would  have  been  cheered  by  the  cordial  greetings  and  the 
active  support  of  finally  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  States 
and  people  of  the  West  and  North.  But  when  they  established 
a  permanent  distinct  government,  and  took  up  arms  for  inde 
pendence,  they  marked  out  between  them  and  us  a  high  wall 
and  deep  ditch  which  no  man,  North  or  West,  could  pass 
without  the  guilt  and  the  penalties  of  treason.  They  went  be 
yond  the  teachings  of  their  own  greatest  statesman  of  the  past 
age,  for  Mr.  Calhoun  himself  had  declared,  in  1831,  that  'the 
abuse  of  power,  on  part  of  the  agent  (the  Federal  Government), 
to  the  injury  of  one  or  more  of  the  members  (the  States),  would 
not  justify  secession  on  their  part:  there  would  be  neither  the 
right  nor  the  pretext  to  secede/  No  matter  who  was  respon 
sible  originally  for  that  condition  of  things  which  led  finally 
to  war,  nor  what  the  motives  and  character  of  the  war  after  its 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.     VALLANDIGHAM.  381 

inception  —  and  upon  both  these  questions  I  entertain  and 
have  expressed  opinions  as  fixed  as  the  solid  rock  —  so  far  as 
the  South  fought  for  a  separate  government  she  stood  wholly 
without  sympathy  or  support  in  the  States  which  adhered  to 
the  Union.  Whatever  else  may  happen,  her  vision  of  inde 
pendence  has  now  melted  into  air.  In  the  appeal  to  arms  — • 
maintained  upon  both  sides  for  four  years  with  a  courage  and 
endurance  grandly  heroic  —  she  has  failed ;  and  though  it  had 
happened  otherwise,  still,  in  my  deliberate  conviction,  her  ex 
periment  of  distinct  government  would  have  failed  also.  But 
the  sole  question  really  decided  by  the  war,  as  by  peace  years 
before  it  had  been  settled,  was  that  two  several  governments 
could  not  exist  among  the  States  of  the  American  Union." 

After  the  Presidential  election  of  1864,  the  Sons  of  Liberty 
were  disbanded,  or  at  least  as  far  as  we  can  ascertain  no  further 
meetings  of  the  order  were  ever  held. 

We  will  close  this  chapter  with  an  extract  from  a  speech 
delivered  by  Mr.  Vallandigham  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  on  the  24th 
of  October,  1864:— 

"  And  now,  first,  men  of  Illinois,  a  word  as  to  secret  socie 
ties,  of  which  so  much  recently  has  been  said,  and  with  which 
my  name  has  been  connected  by  telegraph  and  the  Abolition 
press.  Charges  of  dark  conspiracy  are  daily  heralded,  and 
even  Democratic  newspapers  are,  under  the  present  miserable 
arrangement,  obliged  to  make  public  whatever  of  falsehood 
or  forgery  their  political  enemies,  who  control  the  '  Associated 
Press/  may  choose  to  transmit.  Every  conceivable  organization 
within  the  Democratic  party  —  your  clubs,  your  reading-rooms, 
your  associations,  even  your  committees  —  have  been  denounced 
audaciously — yes,  by  men  high  in  power — as  treasonable  combi 
nations  to  overthrow  the  Government.  Men  of  Illinois,  I  am 
here  to  speak  plainly  and  boldly  to-day,  upon  this  as  upon 
every  other  question.  [Great  applause.]  How  dare  the  Judge 
Advocate-General,  upon  the  eve  of  a  Presidential  election,  lend 
himself  to  the  office  of  insinuations  or  open  charges  of  treason 
able  conspiracy  against  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of  men 
who  love  the  Union,  revere  the  Constitution,  adore  the  flag, 


382  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  mean  to  defend  their  own  personal  liberty  and  the  liberties 
of  the  country  to  the  last  extremity  ?  [Immense  applause.] 
In  ordinary  peaceable  times,  when  we  had  Constitution  and 
law  in  the  land  as  the  sole  rule  of  action  for  our  public  cvervants, 
and  when  arbitrary  power  was  unknown  in  America,  when 
peace  and  security  spread  their  gentle  pinions  over  every  house 
hold  and  there  were  none  to  make  us  afraid,  I  was  hostile  to 
every  form  of  secret  political  society.  Ten  years  ago  I  fought 
boldly  against  just  such  an  organization  called  the  'Know 
Nothings/  made  up  of  the  very  men  who  now  libel  us,  but 
who  then  crept  through  alleys  and  round  corners  with  dark 
lanterns  in  their  hands,  seeking  their  dusky  haunts  and  dens 
under  cover  of  the  night,  though  the  Constitution  was  then  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  military  arrests  and  military 
commissions  were  alike  unknown,  and  trial  under  the  common 
law  and  by  jury  was  the  acknowledged  birth-right  of  every 
citizen.  But  times  change ;  and  our  rights  and  duties,  subject 
always  to  the  eternal  and  immutable  laws  of  justice  and  right, 
change  with  them.  The  expediency,  nay,  the  necessity  of  a 
secret  organization,  depends  upon  the  exigencies  of  the  times. 
When  constitutions  are  defied  and  spit  upon,  and  laws  set  at 
naught,  and  courts  of  justice  supplanted  by  military  commis 
sions,  and  military  arrests  take  the  place  of  '  due  process  of 
law/  and  free  speech,  a  free  press,  free  assemblages  of  the 
people,  and  above  all,  free  elections,  are  subverted ;  when  the 
whole  power  and  patronage  of  the  Administration,  the  joint 
power  of  the  purse  and  of  the  sword,  are  employed  by  the 
party  in  authority  to  perpetuate  its  domination;  and  when  other 
secret,  oath-bound,  armed  and  disciplined  societies  —  armed 
secretly,  but  by  men  in  authority,  and  at  the  public  expense, 
and  working  in  the  interest  of  that  party  —  exist  and  are  fos 
tered  and  encouraged  everywhere,  to  overawe  and  intimidate, 
yes,  even  to  assail  and  beat  down  the  political  opponents  of  the 
Administration,  it  is  the  right  and  the  duty  of  the  people  to 
unite  together  for  the  protection  of  their  interests,  their  rights, 
and  their  persons;  for  'when  bad  men  combine,  good  men/ 
said  the  great  Edmund  Burke,  'must  associate/  [Loud 
applause.]  And  if  they  see  fit  to  meet  with  doors  locked,  to 
require  forms  and  ceremonies,  to  demand  a  lawful  oath  or  obli 
gation,  and  to  enjoin  secrecy,  they  have  the  right  to  do  it. 
[Renewed  applause.]  They  are  not  conspirators,  but  patriots. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  383 

The  test  of  lawfulness  or  unlawfulness  does  not  depend  upon 
ritual,  or  obligation,  or  secrecy,  but  upon  their  purpose.  If  it 
be  to  overthrow  the  Government,  State  or  Federal ;  to  resist 
judicial  process ;  to  resist  the  laws  of  the  land  or  the  constituted 
authorities  of  the  Government  in  the  exercise  of  their  lawful 
powers  and  rights ;  if  it  be  to  seize  arsenals  or  other  public 
property,  to  release  rebel  prisoners  of  war,  or  in  any  other  way 
to  'give  aid  and  comfort'  to  the  enemies  of  a  State  or  of  the 
United  States,  within  the  constitutional  meaning  of  that  term, 
then  it  is  an  unlawful  organization,  a  conspiracy,  whether  it  be 
open  or  secret,  and  as  I  announced  on  the  day  of  my  return  to 
my  home  and  native  State  in  June  last,  at  Hamilton,  'the 
offence  is  treason  and  the  penalty  death/  [Loud  applause.] 
But  we  of  the  Democratic  party  have  a  right  in  times  like 
these  to  unite  in  any  sort  of  organization  for  the  purpose  of 
advancing  the  cause  and  interests  of  our  party,  of  securing 
political  power  and  office  by  peaceable  means  —  through  the 
ballot-box.  [Applause.]  More  than  that,  we  have  the  right, 
under  the  Constitution,  and  by  law  and  by  nature,  to  defend 
our  liberties,  to  protect  our  persons,  to  vindicate  our  rights,  and 
secure  that  which  Constitution  and  laws  give  us,  but  which 
arbitrary  power  may  without  due  process  of  law  and  by  the 
strong  hand  attempt  to  take  away.  [Great  applause.]  If  not, 
then  better  surrender  the  form  of  government  which  our  fathers 
made  for  us,  and  choose  a  king  at  once. 

"You  hear  much  just  now  of  a  secret  organization  or  order 
called  the  '  Sons  of  Liberty/  which  is  said  to  exist.  Well, 
gentlemen,  I  have  read  carefully  all  that  the  spies,  detectives, 
and  informers  of  this  Administration  have  revealed,  and  all 
that  Sanderson,  Carrington,  Holt,  and  Mary  Ann  Pitman  have 
made  public;  and  am  here  to-day  to  say  that  neither  in  the 
ritual,  nor  the  obligation,  nor  the  lessons  or  declaration  of 
principles,  is  there  one  word  *  treasonable '  in  its  character  or 
inconsistent  with  the  highest  and  most  delicate  allegiance  which 
an  American  citizen  owes  to  his  country  and  to  its  government, 
or  the  duty  which  an  American  freeman  owes  to  himself. 
[Loud  cheers.]  The  ritual,  in  itself,  is  nothing,  and  the  obli 
gation  nothing ;  and  as  to  the  principles  announced,  they  are 
precisely  those  to  which  every  American,  of  every  party,  here 
tofore  has  subscribed.  They  are  the  doctrines  of  every  Demo 
cratic  presidential  convention  for  the  last  thirty  years.  Nay, 


384  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

part  of  them  are,  word  for  word,  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky 
resolutions  of  1798,  penned  by  Madison  and  Jefferson.  [Loud 
applause.]  And  yet  sixty  years  later,  the  doctrines  of  the 
fathers  of  the  Republic,  and  founders  of  that  great  Democratic 
party  which  made  the  country  glorious  and  great,  are  de 
nounced  as  '  treason ; '  and  they  who  dare  hold  them  still,  as 
enemies  to  their  country  and  conspirators  against  its  govern 
ment ! 

"  But,  gentlemen,  how  comes  it  that  in  all  these  startling 
revelations,  these  conspiracies  and  plots,  these  secret  societies, 
this  clamor  about  oaths  and  obligations  and  rituals,  we  hear 
nothing  of  the  ' Loyal  Union  League'  and  the  'Strong  Band/ 
and  other  powerful  and  dangerous  secret  oath-bound  societies, 
friendly  to  the  re-election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  lout  hostile  to 
the  peace  and  good  order  of  every  community  ?  Why  is  Rose- 
crans  silent  ?  Why  Carrington  dumb  ?  Why  has  Mary  Ann 
Pitman  no  revelation  to  disclose ;  and  why  even  does  Judge 
Advocate  Holt's  flatulent  eloquence  fail  to  give  forth  a  solitary 
rumble  ?  And  yet  such  organizations  exist  everywhere,  mili 
tary  in  their  character,  and  drilled,  disciplined,  and  armed — 
yes,  armed  with  muskets,  the  public  property  of  the  United 
States  or  of  the  State,  and  paid  for  out  of  taxes  wrung  from 
your  hard  earnings.  Why,  it  was  but  a  few  weeks  ago  that 
the  grand  council  of  the  Union  League  of  the  State  of  New 
York  assembled  at  Syracuse,  and  sitting  as  an  adjunct  of  the 
Republican  State  Convention,  unanimously  adopted  this  reso 
lution  : 

"  'Resolved,  That  we  earnestly  recommend  and  urge  upon  the 
subordinate  councils  to  organise  military  companies  within  their 
several  bodies,  to  arm  and  drill  with  the  utmost  diligence,  and 
with  great  caution,  that  no  unnecessary  occasion  of  offence  be 
given  to  our  enemies.9 

"  What  enemies  ?  Rebels  in  arms  ?  Oh  no  !  The  Loyal 
League  military  will  never  march  to  the  front  to  be  near  the 
flashing  of  the  guns.  Their  enemies  are  their  neighbors,  the 
men  and  women  of  the  Democratic  party  at  home.  To  meet 
in  secret,  to  require  oaths  and  ceremonies,  the  burning  of  frank 
incense,  of  '  gum,  thus  and  myrrh/  to  form  military  com 
panies,  to  arm  and  drill  in  order  to  murder  '  copperheads/  or 
control  elections,  is  lawful,  loyal,  patriotic.  But  all  or  any 
part  of  this,  to  aid  the  principles  of  Democracy,  to  promote  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  385 

success  of  that  party  at  the  polls,  to  defend  our  constitutional, 
God-given  rights  as  freemen,  is  disloyal,  is  treasonable,  is  a 
conspiracy  to  overthrow  the  Government,  and  to  be  put  down 
by  the  strong  arm  of  the  military, — the  conspirators  not  even 
being  entitled  to  the  privilege,  in  common  with  thieves  and 
other  felons,  of  a  trial  by  jury,  and  in  the  judicial  courts,  and 
by  the  fixed  criminal  laws  of  the  land.  I  tell  them  that  we, 
the  men  of  the  Democratic  party,  have  precisely  the  same 
rights,  in  this  and  in  all  other  things,  as  they  have,  and  '  by 
the  Eternal '  we  mean  to  exercise  them.  [Immense  applause, 
and  cries  of  <  Good/  'We  will/  &c.] 

"  And  now  as  to  the  real  purposes  of  the  so-called  'Sons  of 
Liberty/  we  have  it  as  set  forth  officially  in  these  words  by 
Brigadier-General  Henry  B.  Carrington,  'commanding  the 
district  of  Indiana/  in  a  report  from  headquarters,  to  Governor 
Morton,  dated  June  28th,  1864 : 

"  {  PURPOSES  OF  THE   ORDER. 

" '  It  seems  that  the  main  purpose  is  political  power  by  UNION 
with  the  South,  regardless  of  men  or  measures.' 

"  That  is,  without  reference  to  the  question  of  slavery  or 
slaveholders,  just  as  the  Union  existed  of  old.  And  that,  I 
believe,  is  precisely  the  great  object  of  the  whole  Democratic 
party.  So  declares  the  platform  of  the  late  Chicago  Conven 
tion.  So  says  General  McClellan  when  he  announces  in  his 
letter  of  acceptance,  that  <  the  sole  condition  of  peace  is  the 
union  of  the  States/  Thanks  to  General  Carrington :  stupidity 
secured  an  admission  which  a  more  intelligent  dishonesty 
would  have  withheld.  And  yet,  after  all,  if  Abraham  Lincoln 
will  but  return  to  Constitution  and  law  as  his  sole  standard 
of  right  and  power,  and  again  give  us  security  from  arbitrary 
arrests  and  from  military  commissions  for  the  mock  trial  of 
citizens ;  if  he  will  respect  freedom  of  speech,  and  of  the  press, 
and  of  elections,  as  in  the  time  of  other  Administrations;  if  his 
supporters  will  break  up  their  Strong  Bands  and  Union 
Leagues,  and  leave  us  secure  in  our  rights,  our  property,  our 
persons  from  mob  violence,  then  I  will  gladly  say,  away  with 
all  secret  societies  and  orders  and  organizations;  disband  them, 
one  and  all,  at  once,  and  let  us  come  back  to  the  quiet  and 
peace  and  openness  and  good  order,  and  good  feeling  too,  of* 
other  days.  [Applause.]  " 

25 


CHAPTER  XVI.  7 

PATRIOTISM    AND    LOVE    OF    THE    UNION. 

MR.  VALLANDIGHAM  was  a  true  patriot.  Intimately  ac 
quainted  with  him  from  childhood,  we  have  never  met  with  a 
man  in  whose  bosom  seemed  to  glow  a  more  intense  love  of 
country.  He  loved  the  South,  for  it  was  the  home  of  his  an 
cestors  for  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  —  their  place 
of  shelter  from  the  storms  of  persecution  in  their  native  land. 
He  loved  the  "West,  for  it  was  the  place  of  his  birth,  where 
his  infancy  was  cradled  and  his  manhood  matured  —  peopled 
too  by  a  race  whose  energy  and  earnestness  were  so  congenial 
with  his  own  earnest  and  intense  nature.  He  loved  the  North, 
for  it  was  a  part  of  his  country,  that  country  of  which  he  was 
proud,  whose  Constitution  he  revered,  whose  institutions  he 
admired,  and  for  whose  peace  and  unity  and  prosperity  he 
diligently  labored.  It  was  his  desire  to  know  no  North,  no 
South,  no  East,  no  West.  He  loved  the  whole  country:  he 
was,  as  he  himself  expresses  it,  a  United  States  man.  It  was 
the  day-dream  of  his  youth,  and  even  of  his  mature  years, 
that  he  should  live  to  see  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the 
nation's  birth,  and  that  on  that  occasion  he  should  be  the 
orator,  or  one  of  the  orators  of  the  day  to  celebrate  the  glories 
of  a  free,  united,  and  prosperous  country.  The  charges,  there 
fore,  so  frequently  made  during  the  war  that  he  was  disloyal, 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  387 

that  lie  was  a  disunionist,  are  utterly  false  and  unfounded. 
Some  who  made  them  were  doubtless  honest  and  sincere;  others 
knew  them  to  be  untrue,  and  in  giving  them  currency  were 
actuated  entirely  by  personal  or  political  malignity,  or  by  a 
desire  to  subserve  a  partisan  purpose.  No  man  of  sense  and 
intelligence  believes  them  now,  and  prominent  Republicans  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  freely  acknowledge  not  only  his  ability, 
honesty  and  integrity,  but  also  his  patriotism  and  love  of  the 
Union. 

Mr.  McCullough,  now  of  the  Chicago  Republican,  who 
reported  many  of  his  speeches  for  the  Cincinnati  Commercial, 
and  knew  him  well,  makes  the  following  observation  in  his 
paper : — 

"In  the  cheap  and  unreasoning  clap-trap  of  the  day,  it  is 
common  to  speak  of  Mr.Vallandigham  as  a  '  rebel/  '  traitor/ 
or  a  'secessionist.'  Now,  no  man  can  attribute  any  one  of 
these  epithets  to  him  without  confessing  himself  a  fool.  Mr. 
Vallandigham  was  as  sincerely  desirous  of  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  as  any  other  living  man ;  but  he  had  educated  him 
self  into  the  belief,  first,  that  coercion  was  unconstitutional, 
and  secondly,  that  successful  coercion  was  physically  and  mo 
rally  impossible.  Hence  he  was  for  compromise,  for  concession, 
for  arbitration,  anything  rather  than  war." 

The  Rev.  F.  T.  Brown,  a  college  friend,  and  intimate  with 
him  in  after-life,  thus  speaks  of  him  in  a  letter  to  the  St.  Paul 


"Soon  after,  questions  in  politics  came  up  on  which  we 
took  opposite  sides  —  slavery,  the  fugitive  slave  law,  State 
rights,  &c.,  and  when  we  met  again  (as  we  did  when  he  was  a 
member  of  Congress  and  I  lived  in  the  district)  we  both  felt 
that  there  was  a  veil  between  us,  and  that  we  could  not  be  so 
free  and  friendly  as  we  had  been.  But  there  was  no  rupture, 
and  I  for  one  never  (even  when  he  was  outlawed,  and  when, 


388  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

with  many,  his  name  was  the  synonym  of  disloyalty,  treason, 
and  much  else  that  was  vile  and  dishonorable)  doubted  his 
honor,  his  honesty,  or  his  scrupulous  integrity,  and  I  fully 
believe  the  truth  of  what  he  said  a  short  time  before  his  un 
timely  death,  viz :  '  I  tell  you,  sir,  earnestly  and  honestly,  that 
I  never  was  a  disunionist  —  that  I  always  did  believe,  and  do 
now  believe,  that  this  Union  will  be  perpetuated  and  extended 
till  it  embraces  the  continent.'  He  was  a  man  of  great  abilities, 
of  a  noble  independence  of  character,  and  of  high  moral  worth ; 
and  I  can  not  doubt  that  had  he  lived,  his  name  ere  long  would 
have  been  honored  by  tens  of  thousands  who,  but  a  few  years 
since,  had  no  words  too  bad  to  fling  at  the  '  traitor  Vallandig- 
ham/  But  he  is  gone.  Peace  to  his  memory.  And  let  an 
old  Republican  anti-slavery  friend,  who  loved  him.  drop  a  tear 
upon  his  grave." 

What  Mr.  Vallandigham's  views  were  on  the  abstract  right 
of  secession  we  are  unable  to  say :  he  has  never,  as  far  as  we 
know,  left  them  on  record.  It  is  the  opinion  of  many  of  his 
friends  that  he  believed  in  the  right,  but  so  great  was  his  love 
of  the  Union  that  he  would  make  no  avowal  of  that  belief, 
no  affirmation  of  that  right,  while  the  integrity  of  the  Union 
was  in  danger.  Many  prominent  Northern  men  believed  in 
the  right  and  openly  avowed  it,  and  expressed  opinions  which 
evinced  a  low  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the  Union,  and 
great  indifference  as  to  the  importance  of  earnest  effort  for  its 
preservation.  In  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  Jan.  12th,  1848,  Abraham  Lincoln  uses  the  follow 
ing  language : — 

"Any  people  anywhere,  being  inclined  and  having  the 
pov/cr,  have  the  right  to  rise  up  and  shake  off'  the  existing 
Government,  and  form  a  new  one  that  suits  them  better.  This 
is  a  most  valuable  and  a  most  sacred  right  —  a  right  which  we 
hope  and  believe  is  to  liberate  the  world.  Nor  is  this  right 
confined  to  the  cases  in  which  the  whole  people  of  the  existing 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  389 

Government  may  choose  to  exercise  it.  Any  portion  of  such 
people  that  can,  may  revolutionise  and  make  their  own  out  of 
so  much  of  the  territory  as  they  inhabit.  More  than  this.  A 
majority  of  any  portion  of  such  people  may  revolutionise, 
putting  down  a  minority,  intermingled  with  or  near  about 
them,  who  may  oppose  their  movements.  Such  minority  was 
precisely  the  case  of  the  Tories  of  our  revolution." 

Benjamin  F.  Wade,  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  February  23d,  1855,  thus  speaks : — 

"  I  said  there  were  States  in  this  Union  whose  highest 
tribunals  had  adjudged  that  bill  to  be  unconstitutional,  and 
that  I  was  one  of  those  who  believed  it  unconstitutional ;  that 
my  State  believed  it  unconstitutional ;  and  that  under  the  old 
Resolutions  of  1798  and  1799,  a  State  must  not  only  be  the 
judge  of  that,  but  of  the  remedy  in  such  a  case." 

Horace  Greeley,  in  November  1860,  thus  expresses  his 
views : — 

"  The  telegraph  informs  us  that  most  of  the  Cotton  States 
are  meditating  a  withdrawal  from  the  Union  because  of  Lincoln's 
election.  Very  well:  they  have  a  right  to  meditate,  and 
meditation  is  a  profitable  employment  of  leisure.  We  have  a 
chronic,  invincible  disbelief  in  disunion  as  a  remedy  for  either 
Northern  or  Southern  grievances;  we  can  not  perceive  any 
necessary  relation  between  the  alleged  disease  and  this  ultra- 
heroic  remedy ;  still,  we  say,  if  anybody  sees  fit  to  meditate  dis 
union,  let  them  do  so  unmolested.  That  was  a  base  and  hypo- 
critic  row  that  the  House  once  raised,  at  Southern  dictation, 
about  the  ears  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  because  he  presented  a 
petition  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  The  petitioner  had 
a  right  to  make  the  request;  it  was  the  member's  duty  to  pre 
sent  it.  And  now,  if  the  Cotton  States  consider  the  value 
of  the  Union  debateable,  we  maintain  their  perfect  right  to  dis 
cuss  it.  Nay,  we  hold  with  Jefferson  to  the  inalienable  right 
of  communities  to  alter  or  abolish  forms  of  government  that 
have  become  oppressive  or  injurious;  and  if  the  Cotton  States 
shall  become  satisfied  that  they  can  do  better  out  of  the  Union 
than  in  it,  we  insist  on  letting  them  go  in  peace.  The  right  to 


390  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

secede  may  be  a  revolutionary  one,  but  it  exists  nevertheless ; 
and  we  do  not  see  how  one  party  can  have  a  right  to  do  what 
another  party  has  a  right  to  prevent.  "We  must  ever  resist  the 
asserted  right  of  any  State  to  remain  in  the  Union  and  nullify 
or  defy  the  laws  thereof;  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  is  quite 
another  matter.  And  whenever  a  considerable  section  of  our 
Union  shall  deliberately  resolve  to  go  out,  we  shall  resist  all 
coercive  measures  designed  to  keep  it  in.  We  hope  never  to 
live  in  a  republic  whereof  one  section  is  pinned  to  the  residue 
by  bayonets." 

Sentiments  similar  to  these,  expressed  in  terms  much  stronger 
and  more  offensive  to  lovers  of  the  Union,  were  again  and 
again  advanced  by  leading  Republicans.  There  were  those 
among  them  who  insisted  that  either  slavery  should  be  abolished 
or  the  Union  should  be  dissolved.  Their  cry  was  "  No  union 
with  slaveholders." 

\With  such  sentiments  Mr.  Vallandigham  had  no  sympathy ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  sternly  denounced  them.  Whatever  may 
have  been  his  opinion  on  the  right  of  secession,  he  was  always 
opposed  to  its  exercise,  and  never  for  a  moment  contemplated 
a  permanent  division  of  the  country.  At  one  time  he  appre 
hended  a  temporary  dissolution  of  the  Union,  but  he  believed 
that  it  would  be  only  temporary  —  that  it  would  be  restored, 
and  he  was  even  then  meditating  a  plan  for  its  speedy  restora 
tion.  In  not  one  of  his  speeches  in  Congress  or  before  the 
people  can  there  be  found  a  single  sentence  favoring  secession, 
or  expressing  any  sentiment  inconsistent  with  the  strongest 
attachment  to  the  Union.  The  following  quotations  from  cards 
which  he  published  and  from  speeches  which  he  delivered  at 
different  times  during  the  war,  exhibit  his  real  sentiments : — 

"  My  object,  the  sole  motive  by  which  I  have  been  guided 
from  the  beginning  of  this  most  fatal  revolution  —  is  to  MAIN- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  391 

TAIN  THE  UNION,  and  not  to  destroy  it.  When  all  possible 
hope  is  gone,  and  the  Union  irretrievably  broken,  then,  but  not 
till  then,  I  will  be  for  a  Western  Confederacy" —  Card  to  Cin 
cinnati  Enquirer  y  February  14, 1861. 

"Devoted  to  the  Union  from  the  beginning,  I  will  not 
desert  it  now,  in  this  the  hour  of  its  sorest  trial." — Speech  of 
January  14, 1863. 

"  Sir,  I  am  against  disunion.  I  find  no  more  pleasure  in  a 
Southern  disunionist  than  in  a  Northern  or  "Westernxlisunion- 
ist."—  Speech  Dec.  15,  1859. 

"  Never  with  my  consent  shall  peace  be  purchased  at  the 
price  of  DISUNION." — Extract  from  Speech. 

"  No  order  of  banishment  executed  by  superior  force  can 
release  me  from  my  rights  as  a  citizen  of  Ohio  and  of  the 

United  States Every  sentiment  and  expression  of 

attachment  to  the  Union  and  devotion  to  the  Constitution  —  to 
my  country  —  which  I  have  ever  cherished  or  uttered,  shall 
abide  unchanged  and  unretracted  until  my  return." — His 
address  before  banishment. 


But,  say  his  enemies,  he  was  opposed  to  the  war.  True ; 
but  does  opposition  to  a  war  in  which  a  country  may  unhappily 
be  engaged  necessarily  imply  disloyalty  to  the  Government? 
Tens  of  thousands  of  the  men  of  New  England  were  opposed 
to  the  war  of  1812  —  a  war,  too,  with  a  powerful  foreign  foe: 
were  they  regarded  as  disloyal  by  the  men  who  in  1861 
denounced  Mr.  Vallandigham  ?  or  did  the  Government  in 
1812  ever  molest  them  or  interfere  with  their  perfect  freedom 
in  expressing  their  opinions?  Thomas  Corwin  opposed  the 
war  with  Mexico,  and  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  denounced 
it  in  unmeasured  terms:  did  the  Republicans  of  1861  regard 
him  as  a  traitor  ?  Lord  Chatham  opposed  the  war  of  Great 
Britain  against  her  colonies  in  1776,  and  in  the  House  of  Lords 
uttered  these  bold  words :  "  If  I  were  an  American,  as  I  am 
an  Englishman,  while  a  foreign  troop  remained  in  my  country 


392  tlFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

I  would  never  lay  down  my  arms ;  no,  never,  never,  never ! " 
Was  he  an  enemy  to  his  country,  or  disloyal  to  the  Government? 
Mr.  Vallandigham's  opposition  to  the  war  then  was  not 
disloyal,  was  not  treasonable.  Was  he  in  error  in  the  course 
he  pursued ;  is  it  certain  that  he  was  in  error  ?  What  says 
General  ^urbin  Ward? 

"During  the  late  national  contest  no  man  believed  more 
emphatically  that  he  was  right  than  the  speaker  did ;  no  man 
was  more  ready  than  he  to  cast  the  die  and  to  abide  the  result 
of  the  choice  than  I,  and  I  have  no  disposition  or  desire  to 
chang.e  that  opinion  at  this  day;  yet  who  of  us  can  say  in  the 
coming  centuries  of  time,  when  the  events  of  the  past  few 
years  are  viewed  in  the  light  of  history  and  aside  from  partisan 
influences,  whether  Clement  L.  Yallandigham  was  not  only 
truly  great,  but  also  right  ?  Who  will  pretend  to  say  what 
the  verdict  of  history  will  be  ?  " 

The  same  suggestion  is  also  made  by  a  writer  in  the  New 
York  Herald,  which  we  here  give  together  with  the  comments 
thereon  from  another  paper : — 

" '  It  is  not  for  us  to  pass  judgment  on  his  political  life. 
What  is  treason  to-day  may  be  patriotism  to-morrow.  But 
justice  to  the  dead  and  to  the  living  impels  us  to  recognise  the 
purity  of  the  motives  which  prompted  Mr.  Vallandigham  to 
sacrifice  his  political  prospects  during  the  war.  He  had  faults ; 
but  who  is  there  without  them  ?  He  may  have  erred  during 
the  rebellion  ;  but  are  we  sure  that  he  erred  ?  He  never  re 
tracted  one  word  that  he  uttered  in  that  eventful  period,  nor 
expressed  regret  that  he  pursued  the  course  he  did.  He  died 
believing  he  was  right,  and  his  sincerity  demands  our  respect, 
even  as  his  abilities  command  our  recognition  and  our  admira 
tion/ 

" '  He  may  have  erred  during  the  rebellion/  but  the  in 
quiry  arises,  f  Are  we  sure  that  he  erred?'  Who  is  to  judge? 
Certainly  not  those  who  differed  with  Mr.  Vallandigham,  for 
they  had  an  object  in  misrepresenting  and  maligning  the 
motives  that  prompted  him  and  governed  his  opinions  upon  all 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  393 

Eublic  questions.  The  most  decided  opponents  of  Mr.  Val- 
indigham  conceded  to  him  not  only  ability,  but  integrity  and 
sincerity  in  his  political  sentiments  and  ideas  of  public  policy. 
As  the  Herald  writer  remarks,  referring  to  his  course  during 
the  rebellion,  ( he  never  retracted  one  word  that  he  had  uttered 
in  that  eventful  period,  nor  expressed  regret  that  he  pursued 
the  course  he  did.'  And  the  Herald  adds,  '  he  died  believing 
he  was  right/  And  now  comes  the  inquiry,  even  with  those 
who  differed  in  toto  from  Mr.  Vallandigham,  '  Are  we  sure 
that  he  erred  ? '  This  is  a  question  that  the  actors  or  partici 
pants,  those  who  were  contemporaneous  with  these  fearful 
scenes,  when  might  and  prejudice  and  passion  usurped  the 
place  of  law  and  the  individual  rights  that  the  Constitution 
was  intended  to  and  should  protect,  can  not  properly  answer, 
because  the  same  considerations  that  influenced  them  then,  con 
trol  them  now  in  a  greater  or  less  degree. 

"  And  who  that  understood  the  character  and  appreciated 
the  motives  that  prompted  Mr.  Vallandigham.  can  doubt  his 
love  of  country,  and  not  only  his  earnest,  but  intense  desire 
for  its  prosperity,  progress  and  glory?  And  no  one  can  read 
his  speeches  during  the  rebellion,  no  matter  how  intense  and 
bitter  may  have  been  his  denunciations  of  the  Administration 
for  its  exercise  of  arbitrary  power,  without  being  convinced 
that  he  thought  he  was  doing  right,  and  that  he  was  maintain 
ing  the  principles  that  must  underlie  republican  institutions, 
if  free  government  is  maintained  and  perpetuated.  In  a  speech 
at  Dayton,  in  1862,  he  said: 

" '  I  was  born  a  freeman.  I  shall  die  a  freeman.  It  is  ap 
pointed  to  all  men  once  to  die,  and  death  never  comes  too  soon 
to  one  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  I  have  chosen  my  course, 
have  pursued  it,  have  adhered  to  it  to  this  hour,  and  will  to  the 
end,  regardless  of  consequences.  My  opinions  are  immovable 
—  fire  cannot  melt  them  out  of  me.  I  scorn  the  mob.  I  defy 
arbitrary  power/  and  as  the  Herald  remarks,  Mr.  Vallandig 
ham  ( never  retracted  one  word  that  he  uttered  in  that  eventful 
period,  nor  expressed  a  regret  that  he  pursued  the  course  he 
did/  And  we  repeat  the  inquiry, /Are  we  sure  he  erred?' 
It  is  not  for  this  generation  to  say  that  he  erred.  '  What  is 
treason  to-day,  may  be  patriotism  to-morrow/  Mr.  Yallandig 
ham  sacrificed  much  in  his  position.  If  he  had  taken  an  op 
posite  course,  with  his  conceded  abilities  and  marked  qualities 


394  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

to  influence  and  intensify  public  sentiment  and  action,  he  might 
have  reached  the  very  top-round  of  the  ladder  of  fame,  and 
not  only  fame,  but  what  those  that  differed  with  him  regarded 
as  the  highest  evidence  of  patriotism.  But  all  these  incentives 
to  the  gratification  of  ambition  for  place  and  power  he  subor 
dinated  to  what  he  regarded  to  be  the  right.  And  '  are  we 
sure  that  he  erred  ?  *  All  the  results  of  the  terrible  civil  war 
have  not  yet  been  developed,  and  future  generations  may  look 
upon  the  contest  and  the  actors  in  it  from  a  different  stand 
point  than  the  present.  Mr.  Vallandigham  never  uttered  a 
sentiment  that  did  not  express  the  most  intense  devotion  to  the 
Union  and  the  Constitution.  And  the  best  evidence  of  the 
purity  of  the  motives  that  prompted  him  is  found  in  the  sacri 
fice  he  made  of  his  political  prospects  during  the  rebellion. 
The  future  historian,  unbiased  by  the  prejudices  and  passions 
and  interests  of  those  who  were  actors  in  the  events  of  the  past 
ten  years,  and  who  will  know  the  fruits  of  the  fearful  civil 
war,  can  best  determine  who  erred  and  who  were  in  the  right 
in  that  eventful  period." 

But  even  suppose  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  in  error:  his 
motives  were  pure,  and  honest,  and  patriotic.  It  is  not  true? 
as  has  been  sometimes  charged,  that  his  course  in  reference  to 
the  war  was  influenced  by  Southern  sympathy.  He  no  doubt 
had  Southern  sympathies :  he  was  of  Southern  descent,  he  had 
lived  in  the  South,  and  there  were  many  things  in  Southern 
character  that  he  admired ;  but  those  sympathies  had  not  the 
slightest  influence  in  shaping  his  conduct.  Nor  was  his  course 
regarded  by  leading  men  of  the  South  as  favorable  to  their 
interests.  They  admired  his  courage,  they  felt  grateful  to  him 
because  he  had  always  stood  up  in  defence  of  their  constitu 
tional  rights  whenever  and  wherever  assailed ;  but  during  the 
war  they  regarded  him  as  an  enemy,  and  his  course  as  inimical 
to  the  success  of  their  cause.  The  proof  of  this  is  ample.  The 
following  is  an  extract  from  an  article  in  the  Chattanooga 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  395 

Rebel,  published  at  the  time  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  banished 
to  the  Southern  Confederacy : — 

"What  shall  we  do  with  him?  Send  him  back  by  all 
means.  It  is  our  duty  to  our  own  honor  to  do  so.  It  is  charity 
to  him.  And  why  so  ?  There  are  a  hundred  reasons.  In  the 
first  place,  Vallandigham  is  not  our  friend,  nor  an  alien  enemy 
of  the  North.  He  has  never  declared  for  us.  On  the  contrary, 
he  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  of  all  the  men  of  the  North, 
for  had  his  astute  policy  prevailed,  we  would  to-day  find  our 
selves  in  a  more  deplorable  situation  than  it  is  possible  to  con 
ceive.  Vallandigham  is  a  Unionist,  an  honest  Unionist,  an 
able  Unionist ;  he  is  a  gentleman  of  breeding,  and  a  man  of 
heart.  God  knows  we  sympathise  with  him  in  his  troubles.  .  . 
But  in  deciding  upon  his  case  in  our  own  mind,  we  see  simply 
the  great  champion  of  the  Democracy  of  the  Northwest,  late 
member  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  at  present 
candidate  for  Governor  of  Ohio." 

The  next  day,  another  writer  in  the  same  paper  says : — 

"  "We  regard  Mr.  Vallandigham  as  a  faithful  citizen  of  the 
United  States.  As  an  upright  man  he  has  spoken  his  senti 
ments  freely  and  frankly.  They  are  very  clear;  and  if  founded 
upon  an  erroneous  estimate  of  the  feelings  which  inspire  the 
heart  of  the  South,  they  are  frank  and  honest.  We  like  them 
for  these  good  and  rare  qualities.  We  like  him  for  having 
uttered  them.  But  still  in  a  public  and  political  point  of  view, 
he  is  our  enemy,  and  as  such  we  are  bound  to  treat  him/' 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  following  extract  from  the  Mobile 
Register: — 

"There  is  only  one  party  in  the  North  who  want  this 
Union  restored,  but  they  have  no  more  power  —  legislative, 
executive,  or  judicial  —  than  the  paper  we  write  on.  It  is  true 
they  make  a  show  of  union  and  strength,  but  they  have  no 
voice  of  authority.  We  know  that  the  Vallandigham  school 
wants  the  Union  restored,  for  he  told  us  so  when  here  in  exile, 
partaking  of  such  hospitality  as  we  extended  to  a  real  enemy 


396  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

to  our  struggle  for  separation,  banished  to  our  soil  by  another 
enemy  who  is  practically  more  our  friend  than  he.  And  if 
Vallandigham  should,  by  accident  or  other  cause,  become 
Governor  of  Ohio,  we  hope  Lincoln  will  keep  his  nerves  to  the 
proper  tension,  and  not  allow  him  to  enter  the  confines  of  the 
State.  His  administration  would  do  more  to  restore  the 
old  Union  than  any  other  power  in  Ohio  could  do,  and  there 
fore  we  pray  that  he  may  be  defeated.  Should  a  strong  Union 
party  spring  up  in  Ohio,  the  third  State  in  the  North  in  politi- 
tical  importance,  it  might  find  a  faint  response  in  some  South 
ern  States,  and  give  us  trouble.  But  as  long  as  the  Republi 
cans  hold  power,  they  will  think  of  conquest  and  dominion 
only ;  and  we,  on  the  other  hand,  will  come  up  in  solid  column 
for  freedom  and  independence,  which  we  will  be  certain  to 
achieve,  with  such  assistance  as  we  may  now  (after  the  refusal 
of  the  Washington  Cabinet  to  confer)  confidently  expect,  before 
the  Democrats  of  the  North  get  in  power  again,  and  come 
whispering  in  our  ears,  '  Union,  reconstruction,  constitution, 
concession,  and  guarantees.'  Away  with  all  such  stuff!  We 
want  separation.  Give  us  rather  men  like  Thaddeus  Stevens 
and  Charles  Sumner.  They  curse  the  old  Union  and  despise  it, 
and  so  do  we.  And  we  now  promise  these  gentlemen  that,  as 
they  hate  the  Union  and  the  '  accursed  constitution/  let  them 
keep  down  Vallandigham  and  his  party  in  the  North;  then 
they  shall  never  be  troubled  by  us  with  such  whining  about 
the  Constitution  and  Union  as  they  are  sending  up." 

That  'Mr.  Vallandigham  was  honest  and  sincere  in  his 
course  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt:  his  speeches  and  letters 
show  it.  I 

The  following  letter  to  his  brother  James  exhibits  not  only 
his  courage  and  fortitude,  but  also  his  honesty  and  sincerity. 
None  but  a  man  who  sincerely  believed  he  was  right  would  be 
able  to  stand  the  fiery  ordeal  he  here  describes : — 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  February  24,  1862. 
" My  Dear  Brother : — Yours  I  received  yesterday,  and  am 
much  obliged  to  you  for  it.     I  am  indeed  '  fighting  the  beasts 
at  Ephesus/     My  courage  never  flinches,  nor  does  my  faith 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  397 

ever  waver ;  but  it  is  a  fearful  odds  to  contend  against.  With 
but  a  little  band  to  rally  round  me,  without  an  organ  through 
which  to  i|ach  the  public,  with  a  hostile  and  mendacious  or 
silenced  press,  with  a  reporters'  gallery  full  of  the  most  malig 
nant  slanderers  and  not  a  friend  in  it,  with  an  embittered 
majority  in  the  House,  and  the  spectators'  galleries  full  of  con 
tractors  and  other  parasites  of  the  Administration ;  with  nothing 
to  hope  for  except  in  the  future,  every  day  becoming  more  and 
more  distant,  .  .  .  the  struggle  to  '  prop  a  falling  State ?  is 
indeed  enough  to  appal  the  stoutest.  Faith  in  the  right,  in 
truth,  in  God,  these  alone  sustain  me.  If  I  live  through  it, 
the  present  generation  will  do  me  justice.  If  I  perish,  but  my 
name  survive  in  the  history  of  these  times,  other  ages,  and  it 
may  be  other  countries,  will  do  it.  My  triumph  over  Hickman, 
infamous  as  his  assault  was,  yet  was  so  signal,  carrying  for  the 
first  time  the  House  and  the  galleries,  that  I  feel  very  greatly 
gratified.  The  debate,  as  it  occurred  and  is  in  the  Globe,  speaks 
for  itself.  Nearly  all  the  Democrats  of  the  House  called  to 
see  me  that  evening  at  my  lodgings  to  congratulate  me. 
But  all  my  trials  and  persecutions  are  severe.  Other  men  in 
politics  have  been  as  much  abused,  but  they  always  had  the 
support  of  a  powerful  party  and  press.  But  I  KNOW  that  it 
will  all  come  right  by-and-bye." 

If  Mr.  Yallandigham  had  believed  that  the  Union  could 
be  restored  and  maintained  by  war,  and  by  that  alone,  he  would 
have  sustained  with  all  his  might  those  who  were  waging  it. 
This  he  asserts  repeatedly  in  his  speeches  and  in  his  letters. 
He  avers  it  in  the  strongest  terms  in  a  letter  to  Josiah  Perham, 
Esq.,  of  Boston.  Mr.  Perham  had  written  him  a  very  kind 
letter,  and  with  it  had  sent  him  a  medal,  which  he  says  "  is  the 
same  as  presented  by  me  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  6th 
Massachusetts  Regiment  ...  on  Boston  Common,  in  front  of 
the  Mansion  House,  in  which  John  Hancock  lived,  August  2, 
1861,  in  the  presence  of  thirty  thousand  people."  Mr.  Yal 
landigham  thus  replies  to  the  letter :  — 


398  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"DAYTON,  OHIO,  August  29,  1861. 
"Josiah  Perham,  Esq.j  Boston,  Mass. 

" My  dear  Sir:' — I  accept  the  medal  which  you  have  kindly 
enclosed  to  me,  and  the  more  pleasurably  because  of  the  gen 
erous  sentiments  of  the  letter  along  with  which  it  is  trans 
mitted.  You  say  —  and  you  will  pardon  me  for  quoting  it  — 
that  '  my  views  as  frankly  stated  by  me  on  the  floor  of  the 
House,  and  before  the  people,  do  not  agree  with  the  united 
public  sentiment  of  the  North  in  relation  to  our  glorious  Union ; 
yet  may  you  not  hope  that  a  change  may  take  place  in  my 
views,  and  that  before  the  meeting  of  Congress  in  December 
next,  I  will  be  found  to  have  joined  the  great  party  which  ad 
vocates  "Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever!"  And  you 
add  that  '  the  frankness  and  distinguished  ability  with  which 
I  advocate  the  cause  I  favor,  have  given  me  a  national  reputa 
tion  which  now  becomes  historic.' 

"  The  compliment,  my  dear  Sir,  which  you  bestow  upon 
me,  is  not  so  much  in  these  last  words,  flattering  as  they  are, 
as  in  the  wish  you  express  in  the  sentence  before  them ;  and 
this  just  in  proportion  as  honesty  is  a  rarer  and  nobler  heritage 
than  genius  or  talent,  however  great.  But  I  assure  you  that 
I  do  already  belong,  as  I  ever  have  belonged,  to  the  party 
which  advocates  Liberty  and  Union  now  and  forever.  Pardon 
me,  therefore,  if  I  suggest  that  had  Massachusetts  but  followed 
always  in  the  footsteps  and  re-echoed  continually  the  voice  of 
that  great  man,  her  Senator,  who  first  uttered  these  words,  dear 
still  to  every  true  American  heart,  both  Liberty  and  Union 
might  yet  have  been  preserved. 

"  You  do  not  mistake  me ;  and  as  God  is  my  judge,  I  aver 
it,  that,  if  I  were  satisfied  that  through  civil  war  alone  this 
Union  and  our  liberties  could  be  secured,  and  that  by  civil  war 
they  could  be  restored  and  made  sure,  I  would  unite  straight 
way  with  that  party  which  by  the  baptism  of  blood  should  seek 
to  establish  and  to  maintain  them.  But  I  have  not  so  read 
history,  nor  studied  in  the  great  book  of  human  nature;  and 
it  is  because  of  my  deep  conviction  —  a  conviction  deep  as 
earth  and  as  sincere  as  the  blue  sky  above  it  —  that  this  civil 
war  must  end  and  will  end  in  the  utter  and  final  subversion 
of  both,  that  I  am  constrained  with  great  earnestness,  but  yet 
with  becoming  discretion,  to  labor  for  a  speedy  and  honorable 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  399 

"*'•'  •  l '  • 

peace  which  shall  leave  to  us  the  cheering  hope,  at  least,  of  an 
ultimate  and  not  distant  restoration  of  THE  OLD  UNION  of 
these  States,  and  of  <  one  flag,  one  country,  one  constitution, 
one  destiny/  In  this  prayer  I  unite  with  you  with  a  heart  full 
of  sorrow,  but  not  yet  altogether  without  hope. 

"  Again  I  thank  you  ;  and  I  accept  your  letter  as  a  happy 
omen  of  the  future.  That  in  the  midst  of  great  public  excite 
ment,  and  when  threats  of  imprisonment  or  assassination  are 
every  hour  uttered  against  men  who  refuse  to  bow  before  the 
storm,  there  are  those  yet  in  the  old  Bay  State  who,  true  to 
her  ancient  great  name  and  to  the  principles  of  her  Kevolu- 
tionary  record,  have  the  calmness  to  observe,  the  liberality  to 
appreciate,  and  the  courage  to  acknowledge  public  virtue  in 
one  whose  opinions  and  course  of  conduct  are  so  exactly  the 
opposite  of  their  own,  gives  me  renewed  confidence  in  the  early 
restoration  of  peace,  and  with  it  I  would  fain  hope,  sooner  or 
later,  of  that  old  Union  which  our  fathers  made  in  order  to 
establish  justice  and  to  secure  domestic  tranquillity,  the  common 
defence,  the  general  welfare,  and  the  blessings  of  liberty  forever. 
"  I  am  very  respectfully, 

"  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  opposed  the  war  for  various  reasons. 
He  believed  the  war  to  be  unconstitutional.  He  believed  it  to 
be  unnecessary ;  he  believed  just  as  tens  of  thousands  believe 
to  this  day,  that  by  a  judicious  and  conciliatory  course  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  advisers,  the  war  might  be  averted 
and  the  Union  saved.  He  looked  upon  war  as  a  terrible  evil, 
and  never  to  be  entered  upon  till  all  other  means  of  redressing 
grievances  had  failed.  Especially  did  he  look  with  horror  on 
a  civil  war.  And  a  war  between  the  North  and  the  South  was 
to  him  peculiarly  distressing,  for  his  family  were  divided  — 
many  of  those  dear  to  him  belonging  to  opposing  armies.  The 
sons  of  one  brother  followed  the  standard  of  General  Lee  in 
old  Virginia ;  the  sons  of  another  brother,  and  also  the  sons 
of  a  beloved  sister,  were  in  the  Federal  army.  On  the  hills 


400  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

around  Vicksburg  two  of  kindred  blood  offered  up  their  lives 
beneath  the  folds  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  while  at  Port  Royal 
and  at  Cold  Harbor  blood  as  dear  to  him  was  poured  out,  and 
two  gallant  lives  closed  forever,  fighting  in  behalf  of  the  South 
and  the  principle  of  State  rights.  He  realised  strongly,  he 
felt  intensely,  that  it  was  indeed  a  terrible  wrar. 

His  principal  objection  to  the  war,  however,  was  that  by  it 
the  Union  could  never  be  restored  —  the  happy,  prosperous, 
glorious  Union  of  the  fathers.  By  concession,  by  compromise, 
he  believed  that  the  Union  could  be  re-established,  but  never 
by  war.  Whether  he  was  correct  in  his  views  or  not,  time  alone 
can  determine.  The  indications  at  present  —  December,  1871  — 
afford  painful  ground  to  believe  that  his  apprehensions  as  to 
the  result  were  well  founded.  A  Union  "  whereof  one  section 
is  pinned  to  the  residue  by  bayonets  " —  maintained  by  suspen 
sion  of  Habeas  Corpus,  and  martial  law  —  a  Union  in  which 
the  ignorant,  vicious,  and  degraded  govern,  and  the  intelligent, 
virtuous,  and  refined  are  disfranchised  and  excluded  from  office — 
is  not  the  Union  established  by  the  sages  and  patriots  of  the 
Revolution.  When  Mr.  Vallandigham  found  that  the  war 
would  go  on,  that  all  attempts  to  arrest  it  were  vain  and  useless, 
he  demanded  that  it  should  be  carried  on  in  a  legal  and  con 
stitutional  manner,  and  confined  his  opposition  principally  to 
abuses  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  Administration.  Such 
gross  abuses  had  never  been  practised  in  this  country,  or  in 
any  other  professing  to  be  free.  The  most  sacred  and  valuable 
rights  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  were  in  thousands  of  in 
stances  trampled  upon,  and  acts  of  oppression  and  wrong  of 
the  most  grievous  character  continually  committed.  For  his 
denunciation  of  these,  just  as  much  as  for  his  opposition  to  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  401 

war,  was  he  assailed  and  slandered,  and  charges  of  disloyalty 
alleged  against  him.  And  yet  in  all  this  he  was  influenced 
by  the  purest  patriotism  and  the  sincerest  love  of  the  Union. 
He  believed  that  the  very  first  infringements  of  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  people  ought  to  be  resisted.  If  quietly  ac 
quiesced  in,  even  in  time  of  war,  they  would  form  precedents 
for  the  future;  and  that  following  such  precedents,  some 
future  President,  anxious  to  prolong  his  own  power  or  to  keep 
in  power  the  party  to  which  he  belonged,  might  in  time  of 
peace,  under  one  pretext  or  another,  suspend  the  writ  of  Ha 
beas  Corpus,  or  proclaim  martial  law,  or  interfere  with  freedom 
of  speech  or  of  the  press,  and  thus  wrest  from  the  people  their 
dearest  rights,  and  inflict  upon  them  most  grievous  wrongs ; 
and  that  ultimately  a  despotism  might  be  permanently  estab 
lished  on  the  ruins  of  our  free  institutions. 

These  were  the  motives  by  which  he  was  influenced,  and 
their  purity  and  correctness  he  was  willing  to  commit  to  the 
decision  of  the  "  Great  Hereafter,"  and  calmly  await  the  verdict 
of  posterity. 


26 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

EVENTS  FROM  '1865  TO  1870. 

EARLY  in  1865  Mr.  Vallandigham,  earnest  and  true  in  his 
desire  to  restore  peace  to  the  country  distracted  with  civil  war, 
made  another  effort  in  that  direction.  In  1863,  during  the 
time  that  Horace  Greeley  was  in  Canada  upon  an  errand  of  like 
nature,  he  and  Mr.  Vallandigham  had  a  short  correspondence ; 
and  whilst  their  views  widely  differed  as  to  the  plans  of  adjust 
ment  of  difficulties  between  the  North  and  the  South,  Mr. 
Greeley  had  gained  the  respect  of  Mr.  V.  by  the  evident  sin 
cerity  and  humanity  displayed  in  the  correspondence.  There 
had  been  rumors  from  Washington  of  efforts  about  to  be  made 
to  stop  the  effusion  of  blood,  and  Mr.  Greeley  had  been  there, 
it  was  reported,  in  conference  with  the  Administration  upon 
this  important  subject.  Accordingly  Mr.  Vallandigham 
addressed  the  following  letter  to  Mr.  Greeley : — 

"  DAYTON,  OHIO,  January  23,  1865. 
*"Hon.  Horace  Greeley,  Washmgiony  D.  C. 

"My  Dear  Sir: — In  consideration  of  our  former  correspon 
dence,  and  that  you  have  twice  since  urged  negotiation  for 
peace  in  our  unhappy  country,  I  intended  just  after  the  Presi 
dential  election,  when  no  partisan  motives  could  stand  in  the 
way,  to  address  you  on  the  subject;  but  the  tone  of  the  Presi 
dent's  message  seemed  so  belligerent  and  so  adverse  to  anything 
like  peaceful  efforts,  that  I  gave  up  my  purpose.  For  some 
.weeks  past  I  have  with  painful  anxiety  watched  the  renewal 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  403 

of  movements  in  that  direction.  I  fear  that  little  at  present 
may  result  from  them ;  but  what  is  being  done  is  at  least  an 
important  point  gained  (I  assume  of  course  that  they  are  in 
good  faith),  and  a  good  omen  for  the  future.  To  me,  who  for 
so  long  have  been  denounced  and  persecuted  solely  for  insisting 
upon  a  resort  to  negotiation  and  peaceful  measures  in  this 
great  controversy,  they  are  especially  grateful.  Sooner  or  later 
it  must  come  to  this.  Two  years  ago  it  would  have  been  much 
better  for  the  country  had  we  succeeded  in  our  efforts  then; 
but  Seward  and  Weed,  as  you  well  know,  upon  the  one  side, 
and  the  '  Albany  Regency/  with  Belmont,  &c.,  on  the  other,  as 
/  well  know,  defeated  the  humane  and  wise  purpose.  The  two 
years  are  gone — and  great  God,  what  a  record! — but  the  sibyl 
returns ;  and  if  possible,  let  us  buy  this  time." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  then  enlarged  upon  the  military  power 
of  the  South,  which  still  appeared  formidable,  and  the  great 
danger  of  foreign  intervention  with  its  attendant  evils,  and 
made  several  historical  references  in  illustration  of  his  views. 
In  conclusion,  he  said : — 

"  I  could  fill  many  pages  with  details ;  for  to  me  whose  great 
study  is  and  ever  has  been  history,  it  is  all  before  my  eyes  as  if 
a  reality.  Can  anything  be  done  to  avert  it,  or  without  it,  the 
protraction  of  a  most  bloody  and  fruitless  war  for  years  longer? 
Now  is  the  time.  And  if  anything  is  begun,  no  effort  must  be 
spared  to  bring  it  to  a  successful  conclusion ;  since,  as  Robert 
son  in  his  Charles  the  Fifth  remarks,  unsuccessful  negotiations 
only  exasperate  the  parties  whom  they  were  intended  to  recon 
cile.  But  no  negotiation  will  or  can  begin  except  on  blank 
paper.  My  sole  purpose  in  addressing  you  now,  is  to  say  that, 
while  I  never  have  and  never  will  combine  with  any  party  in 
the  prosecution  of  this  war,  I  am  yet  ready  to  lay  aside  all 
personal  griefs,  all  remembrance  of  personal  wrongs,  and  unite 
with  any  party  or  set  of  men  in  any  honorable  and  patriotic 
effort,  through  negotiation  and  peace,  to  restore,  if  possible,  the 
integrity  of  our  common  country,  and  avert  the  terrible  ruin 
which  impends  it,  and  now  hastens  on  every  hour.  If  at  any 
time  I  can  thus  be  of  any  service  in  any  capacity,  I  am  ready 
for  the  work  whenever  and  however  summoned.  And  if  the 


404  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

men  who  are  striving  to  thwart  the  efforts  for  negotiation  and 
peace  shall  again  succeed,  it  will  become  necessary  ultimately — 
when,  I  say  not — to  associate,  temporarily  at  least,  and  without 
any  concealment  or  false  pretence,  all  men,  without  reference  to 
past  questions,  or  even  other  future  policies,  into  a  party  or 
alliance  devoted  to  the  great  purpose  of  saving  this  country 
from  either  the  dire  ruin  of  successful  war  in  the  course  of 
years,  or  of  division  and  foreign  intervention,  protectorates  or 
alliances.  I  write  confidentially,  and  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from 
you  in  like  manner  in  return. 

"Very  truly,  C.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM." 

Six  days  after  this  letter  was  written,  the  conference  between 
President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Seward  upon  the  one  hand, 
and  Hon.  A.  H.  Stephens  and  Judge  Campbell  upon  the  other, 
was  held  at  City  Point,  near  Petersburg,  Virginia.  The  result 
of  that  conference  was  such  that  it  dispelled  all  hope  of  peace, 
except  through  the  bloody  pathway  of  continued  warfare. 
This  attempt  at  adjustment  of  difficulties  between  the  sections 
having  thus  utterly  failed,  the  war  was  waged  with  unrelent 
ing  vigor ;  and  seeing  the  hopelessness  of  the  task,  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  made  no  further  effort  to  secure  a  settlement  of  the 
terrible  controversy. 

Early  in  April,  however,  the  war  was  unexpectedly  brought 
to  a  close  by  the  surrender  of  General  Lee.  As  soon  as  this 
was  made  known,  there  was  great  joy  throughout  the  country. 
The  night  after  the  news  reached  the  city,  Dayton  was  illumi 
nated,  cannons  were  fired,  and  bonfires  blazed.  As  usual  on 
such  occasions  of  public  rejoicing,  a  portion  of  the  community, 
not  satisfied  with  the  natural  excitement  of  the  hour,  resorted 
to  stimulants,  and  the  saloons  and  groggeries  were  filled  with 
excited  and  intoxicated  men.  A  crowd  of  worthless  fellows 
of  the  baser  sort,  full  of  malignity  and  bad  whiskey,  in  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  405 

evening  came  down  in  front  of  Mr.  Vallandigham's  house, 
where  they  groaned,  hooted  and  yelled  in  the  most  frightful 
manner,  alarming  the  lady  inmates  greatly.  At  last  stones 
were  thrown  at  the  front  windows^  and  in  an  instant  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  appeared,  pistol  in  hand,  upon  the  porch.  "  I  give 
you,"  said  he,  "  two  minutes  to  leave  here ;  I  fire  this  pistol  in 
the  air  once,  in  two  minutes  more  I  shall  fire  into  the  crowd." 
As  he  spoke  he  fired  upwards,  and  instantly  the  mob  broke  and 
ran.  This  cowardly  mob  was  denounced  by  every  decent 
Republican  in  the  city,  and  the  attempt  to  insult  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  and  his  family  was  never  repeated.  During  the  cam 
paign  of  1863,  several  times  whilst  no  one  except  the  ladies  of 
the  house  were  at  home,  similar  insults  were  offered ;  but  after 
Mr.  Vallandigham's  return,  except  on  the  occasion  just  men 
tioned,  no  one  dared  to  attempt  the  base  outrage. 

On  the  night  of  the  14th  of  April  President  Lincoln  was 
assassinated.  The  news  of  his  death  produced  an  unprece 
dented  state  of  feeling  in  the  country,  and  carried  sorrow  and 
mourning  to  many  hearthstones  where  his  name  had  been 
almost  execrated.  Mr.  ATallandigham  was  an  avowed  and  open 
enemy  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  believed,  and  justly  too,  that  he 
had  been  by  the  President  cruelly  and  outrageously  wronged ; 
but  Mr.  Lincoln's  tragic  and  sudden  death  in  an  instant 
obliterated,  at  least  for  the  time,  all  recollections  of  personal 
wrong  and  all  feelings  of  personal  resentment,  and  he  imme 
diately  wrote  these  lines  upon  the  sad  event,  which  were  pub 
lished  the  next  day  in  the  Dayton  Empire  as  an  editorial : — 

"  Last  night  was  a  night  of  horrors  in  Washington.  Pres 
ident  Lincoln  perished  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin.  At  any 
time  this  would  have  been  monstrous  —  inexpressibly  horrible. 


4:06         LIFE  "OF 'CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

Just  now  it  is  the  worst  public  calamity  which  could  have 
befallen  the  country.  Great  God !  have  mercy  upon  us !  Thin 
is  the  beginning  of  evils.  The  hearts  and  hopes  of  all  men  — 
even  of  those  who  had  opposed  his  policy  earliest  and  strong 
est —  had  begun  to  turn  towards  Abraham  Lincoln  for  de 
liverance  at  last.  And  not  without  reason ;  for  his  course  for 
the  last  three  months  has  been  most  liberal  and  conciliatory. 
But  he  has  fallen  by  the  most  horrible  of  all  crimes ;  and  he 
who  at  this  moment  does  not  join  in  the  common  thrill  and 
shudder  which  shocks  the  whole  land,  is  no  better  than  the 


assassin." 


About  this  time  Mr.  Vallandigham  received  an  invitation 
to  address  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Association  of  Lan 
caster,  Pennsylvania.  Not  being  able  to  appear  in  person  and 
deliver  an  address,  he  wrote  a  long  and  very  able  letter,  which 
was  immediately  published  in  many  of  the  papers  and  widely 
circulated.  In  that  letter  he  did  not  attempt  to  recommend 
any  general  policy  to  be  adopted  by  the  Democratic  party — 
the  state  of  the  country  was  too  unsettled  for  that  —  but  he 
urged  the  importance  of  a  maintenance  of  the  organization, 
adherence  to  its  great  leading  principles,  and  the  infusion  of 
new  life  and  energy  in  order  to  be  ready  for  vigorous  and 
effective  action  whenever  the  time  for  action  should  come. 

On  the  24th  of  August  the  State  nominating  convention 
met  in  Columbus.  It  was  a  large  convention,  composed  of 
pure,  patriotic,  and  intelligent  men.  Mr.  Vallandigham  was 
elected  temporary  chairman,  and  in  taking  the  chair  embraced 
the  opportunity — the  first  that  had  offered  —  to  return  his 
grateful  acknowledgments  to  the  Democracy  of  Ohio  for  the 
nomination  he  had  received  at  their  hands  two  years  before, 
and  for  the  warm  and  enthusiastic  support  they  had  given  him 
in  those  days  of  peculiar  peril  and  trial. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  407 

Very  soon  after  the  meeting  of  Congress  in  December 
1865,  it  became  apparent  that  a  breach  was  not  only  imminent 
but  absolutely  unavoidable  between  President  Johnson  and  the 
party  which  had  elected  him.  As  the  session  progressed  the 
controversy  between  the  President  and  Congress  became  still 
more  bitter,  until  in  January  1866,  he  declared  in  vehement, 
impassioned  language,  upon  the  porch  of  the  White  House, 
open  war  upon  the  Radical  party.  If  Mr.  Johnson,  when  he 
broke  off  from  his  former  supporters,  had  called  to  his  assist 
ance  the  foremost  men  of  the  Democratic  party,  had  imme 
diately  remodeled  his  cabinet,  and  had  suppressed  his  pre 
judices  against  the  peace  party  of  the  North  as  well  as  against 
the  rebels  of  the  South,  it  would  have  preserved  him  from 
much  vexation  of  spirit,  given  him  a  strong  hold  upon  the 
people,  and  secured  his  complete  triumph  over  his  enemies. 
But  unfortunately  he  drew  the  nattering  picture  in  his  mind  of 
a  man,  and  that  man  himself,  becoming  the  foundation  of  a 
great  party,  which,  dependent  upon  him  alone,  and  guided 
entirely  by  his  counsels,  should  sweep  the  land  like  a  tornado, 
and  place  him  once  more  in  the  Presidential  chair.  And  thus 
in  imagination  he  foresaw  himself  in  the  future  as  the  rival  in 
greatness  of  Washington,  the  restorer  of  peace  and  harmony  to 
a  divided  people,  and  the  second  saviour  of  his  country.  He 
therefore  exhibited  during  the  years  1865,  1866,  and  1867  a 
coldness  towards  the  most  prominent  members  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  and  a  positive  animosity  towards  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham  which  he  could  not  conceal.  Yet  at  that  time  Mr.  Val- 
landigham,  more  than  any  one  man,  had  controlling  influence 
over  the  masses  of  his  party.  Mr.  Johnson  was  not  governed 
by  unpatriotic  feelings  in  his  course,  but  controlled  by  old 


408  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

prejudices,  and  lie  underrated  very  much  the  importance  of  the 
allies  whose  warm  support  he  could  easily  have  gained,  and 
greatly  over-estimated  his  strength  and  ability  to  cope  with  his 
powerful  adversaries.  Notwithstanding  Mr.  Vallandigham 
soon  learned  that  Mr.  Johnson  still  cherished  an  ill-feeling 
against  him,  he  gave  the  President  in  his  struggle  with  his 
inveterate  foes  in  Congress,  his  support,  but  not  with  the  zeal 
and  earnestness  he  would  otherwise  have  displayed.  Mr.  John 
son,  with  all  his  faults  of  character,  inordinate  self-esteem , 
obstinacy,  and  unreasonable  prejudice,  while  he  did  not  exhibit 
profound  sagacity  in  his  contest  with  Congress,  developed  a 
firmness  and  moral  courage  which  entitle  him  to  the  respect 
of  his  countrymen.  Yet  the  manner  in  which  he  endeavored 
to  enforce  his  policy,  rather  than  that  policy  itself,  was  a  mis 
fortune  to  the  people  of  his  own  section,  and  has  had  much  to 
do  in  delaying  the  reaction  against  the  Eadical  party. 

In  his  refusal  to  assent  to  the  Freedman's  Bureau  and  the 
Civil  Eights  bills,  he  arrayed  against  him  in  fierce  opposition 
the  Eepublicans  as  a  party ;  yet  many  men  of  ability,  of  posi 
tion  and  influence,  who  had  been  strong  supporters  of  the  war, 
were  enlisted  under  his  banner.  During  the  early  part  of  the 
winter  of  1866,  two  clubs  were  organised  in  Washington  city, 
composed  of  such  elements,  with  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the 
President.  One  of  these  clubs,  known  as  the  National  Union 
Club,  was  founded  by  Hon.  A.  N.  Eandall,  of  Wisconsin,  the 
Assistant  Postmaster-General,  and  was  composed  principally  of 
Eepublicans  dissatisfied  with  the  action  of  the  Eadical  party 
in  Congress.  The  other,  styled  the  National  Union  Johnson 
Club,  was  composed  largely  of  men  of  Democratic  antecedents, 
such  as  T.  B.  Florence  of  Pennsylvania,  Charles  Mason  of 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGKHAM.  409 

Ohio,  and  Montgomery  Blair  of  Washington.  These  two 
associations  soon  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the  National 
Union  Club,  and  from  this  organization  emanated  the  call  for 
the  Philadelphia  Convention  of  1866.  The  call  for  this  con 
vention  was  addressed  "  to  all  electors  in  the  thirty-six  States 
and  nine  Territories  of  the  United  States,  and  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  who,  in  a  spirit  of  patriotism  and  love  for  the 
Union,  can  rise  above  personal  and  sectional  considerations,  and 
who  desire  to  see  a  truly  National  Convention  which  shall  rep 
resent  all  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union,"  the  purpose 
being  "  to  hold  counsel  together  upon  the  state  of  the  Union, 
and  to  take  measures  to  avert  possible  danger  from  the  same." 
Mr.  Vallandigham  was  distrustful  of  this  movement  from  the 
start ;  there  were  men  connected  with  it  whom  he  regarded  with 
suspicion,  and  he  was  apprehensive  of  a  design  to  break  up  the 
Democratic  party ;  nevertheless  he  accepted  the  appointment 
of  delegate  to  the  Convention,  and  went  there  with  but  little 
hope  of  seeing  any  good  accomplished,  but  determined  that  any 
effort  to  destroy  the  great  Democratic  organization  should  be 
foiled. 

The  Convention  met  on  the  14th  day  of  August,  in  the 
Wigwam,  a  large  building  erected  specially  for  the  meeting  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia.  In  numbers  and  the  distinguished 
character  of  its  delegates  the  Convention  was  a  success ;  but  it 
was  composed  of  the  most  discordant  elements,  and  too  many 
of  its  members  were  professional  office-seekers.  Henry  J. 
Raymond,  of  the  New  York  Times,  whose  support  of  the  Pres 
ident  had  been  timid  and  wavering,  under  the  circumstances 
was  allowed  to  exert  too  much  influence  in  its  deliberations,  as 
were  others  also  whose  treachery  soon  after  to  Mr.  Johnson 


410  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

showed  plainly  that  they  had  never  had  any  real  sincerity  in 
the  movement.     These  were  the  very  men  who  immediately 
upon  the  assembling  of  the  Convention  raised  objections  to  the 
entrance  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  Hon.  Fernando  Wood,  and 
other  prominent  Democrats  into  that  body.     Mr.  Vallandig 
ham  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  and  stopped  at  the  Girard  House, 
the  day  before  the  Convention  met.     As  soon  as  his  presence 
became  known  he  was  overrun  with  visitors.     It  was  estimated 
that  during  his  short  stay  in  the  city  eight  thousand  people 
called  to  see  him.     His  hand  and  arm  became  absolutely  sore 
and  wearied  out  by  continual  hand-shaking.     At  last  he  was 
forced  to  change  his  room,  actually  to  hide  away  from  visitors, 
as  he  was  becoming  entirely  exhausted.     The  objection  to  his 
entering  the  Convention  arose  in  the  JSFew  York  delegation,  and 
was  on  account  of  his  opposition  to  the  civil  war.     The  Ohio 
delegation,  as  well  as  Mr.  V.  himself,  were  highly  incensed  at 
this  opposition  to  his  admission  to  a  seat,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  a  majority  of  the  Convention  were  in  favor  of  his  joining 
in  the  deliberations ;  but  as  the  question  threatened  to  break  up 
.  the  meeting,  or  would  at  least  produce  an  angry  discussion, 
he  at  length  consented,  although  against  his  own  convictions 
of  right  and  duty,  to  withdraw.     When  he  sent  the  letter  of 
withdrawal,  he  predicted  that  the  result  of  the  Convention 
would  not  affect  to  any  extent  the  future  politics  of  the  country. 
In  this,  subsequent  events  proved  him  correct.     Hon.  J.  K. 
Doolittle  was  selected  permanent  chairman,  with  a  host  of 
prominent  politicians  as   vice-presidents.       Every  State   and 
Territory    was    represented.      Notwithstanding,  however,  the 
Convention  was  composed  of  many  most  able  and  influential 
gentlemen,  and  many  of  the  most  gallant  and  distinguished 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  411 

soldiers  of  the  Federal  army  participated  in  its  delibera 
tions,  and  the  greatest  enthusiasm  existed  during  its  sittings, 
it  scarcely  produced  a  ripple  in  the  political  current  of  the 
times.  In  fact  it  was  an  utter  failure.  On  the  second  day  of 
the  Convention  Mr.  Vallandigham  sent  in  his  letter  of  with 
drawal.  The  rules  of  the  Convention  were  then  suspended  in 
order  to  allow  it  to  be  read.  The  letter  is  as  follows : — 

"GiKARD  HOUSE,  Philadelphia,  Aug.  14th,  1866. 
"  To  the  Chairman  of  the  National  Union  Convention : — 

"  Sir : —  I  have  this  day  received  from  the  National  Union 
Committee,  through  the  Hon.  "Win.  S.  Groesbeck,  chairman 
of  the  joint  Ohio  delegation  to  your  Convention,  a  ticket  of 
admission  as  a  delegate  from  that  State.  The  Hon.  George  W. 
McCook,  chairman  of  the  Democratic  delegation  from  Ohio, 
has  also  communicated  to  me  the  following  resolution,  this 
morning  adopted  by  that  delegation : 

" '  Resolved,  unanimously,  by  the  Ohio  Democratic  delegation, 
That  we  recognise  the  right  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  a 
duly  elected  delegate  from  the  Third  Congressional  District  of 
Ohio,  to  hold  a  seat  in  that  Convention ;  that  we  should  regard 
his  exclusion  from  such  a  seat  as  an  unjust,  an  unreasonable 
infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  Democracy  of  said  district, 
and  are  ready  to  stand  by  him  in  the  assertion  of  his  rights 
and  the  rights  of  his  constituents ;  that  we  endorse  cordially 
the  purity  and  patriotism  of  his  motives,  and  his  fitness  every 
way  to  sit  in  said  Convention;  yet,  for  the  sake  of  harmony 
and  good  feeling  in  the  same,  and  in  order  to  secure  the  great 
ends  for  which  it  is  called,  we  consent  to  his  withdrawal  from 
this  delegation,  and  from  a  seat  in  the  Convention,  if,  in  his 
judgment,  his  duty  to  his  constituents  shall  justify  such  with 
drawal/ 

"  Yielding  my  own  deliberate  convictions  of  duty  and  right 
to  the  almost  unanimous  opinion  and  desire  of  friends  whose 
wisdom  and  soundness  of  judgment,  and  sincerity  and  purity 
of  motives,  I  may  not  question,  to  the  end  that  there  shall 
be  no  pretext,  even  from  any  quarter,  for  any  controverted 
question  or  disturbing  element  in  the  Convention  to  mar  its 


412  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

harmony,  or  hinder  in  any  way  the  results  to  the  cause  of  the 
Constitution,  the  Union,  and  public  liberty  which  shall 
follow  from  its  deliberation  and  its  action,  I  hereby  withdraw 
from  the  Ohio  Democratic  delegation,  and  decline  taking 
my  seat  in  the  Convention.  I  am  profoundly  conscious  that 
the  sanctity  and  magnitude  of  the  interests  involved  in  the 
present  political  canvass  in  the  United  States  are  too  immense 
not  to  demand  a  sacrifice  of  every  personal  consideration  in 
a  struggle  upon  the  issue  of  which  depends,  as  I  solemnly  be 
lieve,  the  present  peace,  and  ultimately  the  existence  of  free 
republican  government  on  this  continent. 

"Trusting  that  your  deliberations  may  be  harmonious, 
your  proceedings  full  of  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  patriotism, 
and  its  results  crowned  with  a  glorious  and  a  saving  triumph 
in  the  end  to  the  great  cause  in  which  every  sympathy  of 
my  heart  is  enlisted,  I  am,  very  respectfully,  &c., 

"  C.  L.  YALLANDIGHAM." 

The  canvass  of  1867  in  the  State  of  Ohio  was  exceedingly 
animated.  Mr.  Vallandigham  entered  upon  it  with  his  accus 
tomed  energy  and  earnestness.  He  visited  every  section  of 
the  State  and  addressed  between  seventy  and  eighty  meetings ; 
"and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,"  said  a  Democratic  paper  at  that 
time,  "  that  wherever  he  spoke,  the  Democracy  in  those  counties 
made  proportionally  larger  gains  than  in  any  other  portions  of 
the  State.  Republicans  came  to  hear  him  by  thousands  and 
went  away  divested  of  their  insane  prejudice  against  him.  The 
opposition  endeavored  to  make  all  the  capital  they  could  out 
of  his  identification  with  the  canvass,  but  it  was  all  to  no  pur 
pose."  The  Democracy  triumphed.  They  elected  a  majority 
in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  and  thus  secured 
the  election  of  a  United  States  Senator,  which  was  the  great 
aim  and  object  of  the  contest.  There  was  great  rejoicing  over 
the  result.  Jubilee  meetings  were  held  in  various  parts  of  the 
State.  A  very  large  one  assembled  at  Mt.  Yernoii  on  the  24th 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  413 

day  of  October.  Mr.Yallandigham  was  present,  and  delivered 
an  able  and  eloquent  speech.  A  correspondent  of  the  Cincin 
nati  Commercial,  who  was  present  and  reported  the  speech,  thus 
writes  of  the  meeting  and  of  Mr. Vallandigham's  effort :  —"At 
Mt.  Yernon  yesterday  the  crowd  was  immense  —  larger,  I 
think,  than  I  saw  at  any  meeting  of  the  campaign  recently 
closed.  ...  As  he  [Mr.  Vallandigham]  passed  through  the 
streets  of  the  town  from  the  railroad  depot  in  an  open  carriage, 
the  people  swarmed  around  him  to  feast  their  eyes  upon  him, 
and  if  possible  to  shake  hands  with  him.  .  .  .  He  spoke  with 
more  vim  and  spirit  than  I  had  ever  heard  from  him,  and  the 
repeated  plaudits  of  his  audience  told  with  what  effect  he  was 
addressing  their  Democratic  hearts."  The  following  are  ex 
tracts  from  the  speech : — 

"First,  men  of  Knox,  I  give  fervent  thanks  to  almighty 
God  for  the  blessings  of  this  day.  Next,  to  you,  my  friends,  I 
make  hearty  acknowledgment  of  the  earnest,  devoted,  pas 
sionate  enthusiasm  of  this  reception.  There  is  no  speech  nor 
language,  dead  or  living,  strong  enough  or  copious  enough  to 
express  the  emotions  of  my  heart  at  this  moment. 

*  Could  I  embody  and  unbosom  now 
That  which  is  most  within  me  —  could  I  wreak 
My  thoughts  upon,  expression,  and  thus  throw 
Soul,  heart,  mind,  passions,  feelings,  strong  or  weak, 
All  that  I  would  have  sought,  and  all  I  seek, 
Bear,  know,  feel,  and  yet  breathe,  into  ONE  word, 
And  that  word  were  lightning,  I  would  speak.' 

"But  pardon  me,  men  of  Knox,  if,  subduing  my  own 
swelling  but  voiceless  thoughts  and  emotions,  I  beg  that  yours, 
too,  may  be  hushed  for  a  moment,  while  calmly  and  through 
historic  narrative  I  call  your  memories  back  to  the  events  which 
to-day  we  commemorate.  And  I  am  sure  furthermore,  my 
friends,  that  you  will  extenuate  at  least  the  seeming,  not  real, 
egotism  which  demands  continued  reference  to  myself  as  a 
principal  actor  in  the  scene. 


414  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   LJ    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"Four  years  and  six  months  ago  I  stood  upon  this  very 
spot  to  address  thousands  of  my  fellow- citizens,  assembled 
openly  and  publicly,  under  the  law  and  according  to  the  Con 
stitution,  to  consult  for  the  common  good,  to  instruct  their 
representatives,  and  to  petition  for  redress  of  grievances.  I 
myself,  too,  had  been  proclaimed  a  candidate  for  nomination  to 
the  office  of  Governor  of  Ohio.  Wherefore  the  people  had  a 
double  right  to  hear,  and  I  a  two-fold  claim  to  be  heard.  Yet 
my  presence  upon  that  day  was  almost  constrained.  Engage 
ments  required  me  elsewhere.  But  yielding  to  the  urgent 
entreaties  of  your  messenger  specially  deputed  for  the  purpose, 
I  came,  not  as  orator  of  the  day,  but  to  fill  a  place  in  the  pro 
gramme  of  your  proceedings,  and  I  spoke,  feebly  indeed,  yet 
with  words  of  honesty  and  truth.  That  other  speech,  making 
an  issue  with  the  petty  tyrants  of  the  day,  and  responsive  to 
1  General  Order  No.  38/  and  the  other  orders  dated  at  Indian 
apolis,  and  more  atrocious  still,  forbidding  all  criticism  of  the 
acts  and  policies  of  the  Lincoln  Administration,  was  delivered 
the  evening  previous,  upon  consultation  and  after  meditation, 
from  the  steps  and  amid  the  columns  of  the  Capitol  at  Colum 
bus.  But  the  spies  and  hirelings  of  him  whose  name  I  loathe 
to  utter  [applause],  stripped  of  their  military  uniform,  and 
dishonoring  for  a  while  the  garb  of  honest  citizens,  had  been 
ordered  to  Mount  Vernon  ;  and  here  leaning  upon  the  platform 
and  tainting  the  air  of  heaven  with  their  foul  presence,  they 
did  a  work  of  infamy  without  example  in  military  annals. 
[Applause.]  They  did  it  in  secresy,  and  they  did  it  in  safety. 
Had  they  been  known,  and  their  mission  understood,  the 
scattered  members  of  their  worthless  carcasses  [applause],  torn 
and  wrenched  and  tossed  by  the  arms  and  hands  of  ten 
thousand  infuriate  freemen,  would  have  strewed  the  ground,  a 
prey  to  lean  dogs  and  hungry  vultures,  'gorging  and  growling 
over  carcass  and  limb '  [applause],  if  vulture  and  clog  could 
consent  to  crunch  and  mumble  and  feed  upon  such  flesh  as 
theirs.  [Applause]." 

After  giving  at  considerable  length  an  account  of  his  illegal 
arrest,  iniquitous  trial,  and  unjust  banishment,  he  continues : — 

"  And  to-day,  men  of  Knox,  I  am  again  in  your  midst,  a 
freeman,  to  speak  to  and  for  freemen  as  brave  as  God  ever 
made  among  the  children  of  men.  [Great  applause.] 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  415 

"  And  now,  my  friends,  allow  me  to  recur  to  the  scenes 
upon  this  spot  four  years  and  a-half  ago.  "We  were  then  in 
the  midst  of  a  civil  war  the  most  gigantic  in  numbers,  in  ma 
terial,  in  effort ;  the  grandest  in  proportions,  the  bloodiest  and 
most  destructive  and  desolating,  and  the  most  penetrating  and 
far-reaching  in  its  results  and  consequences,  immediate  and 
remote,  ever  waged  —  a  civil  war  between  thirty  millions  of 
people,  a  compound  race,  full  of  intellect,  of  courage,  of  will 
unconquerable,  set  on  fire  by  passion,  and  the  most  belligerent 
and  inexorable  on  the  globe.  The  earth  trembled  under  the 
tread  of  their  armies ;  the  heavens  reverberated  the  shock  of 
their  battles;  almost  an  entire  continent  was  the  theatre  of  the 
conflict,  and  for  four  years  it  raged  with  the  fury  of  the  hur 
ricane. 

"  We  were  then,  also,  in  the  midst  of  a  civil  revolution,  the 
most  extraordinary  ever  recorded  in  the  history  of  free  gov 
ernments —  a  revolution  before  which  the  Constitution  was 
overthrown,  the  Union  dissolved,  and  liberty  crushed  out  be 
neath  a  military  and  civil  despotism  the  most  searching,  the 
most  complete,  the  most  appalling  ever  established  in  a  repub 
lic  ;  a  despotism  combining  the  madness  and  license  of  the 
mob  with  the  system  and  discipline  of  the  military — a  des 
potism  to  which  fear  in  tyrants,  ambition  in  generals,  hate  in 
churchmen,  and  madness  in  all,  gave  a  cruelty,  a  desperation,  a 
venom  and  a  fury  which  smote  and  consumed  and  devoured  as 
it  walked  in  darkness  or  wasted  at  noonday.  Freedom  of 
speech,  of  the  press,  of  public  assemblages,  and  of  the  ballot, 
had  all  perished  in  every  Border  State  South;  and  the 
'Butcher  of  Fredericksburg/  writhing  and  infuriate  under 
defeat,  had  just  been  deputed  to  extinguish  the  last  lingering 
spark  of  liberty  in  the  Northwest.  Once  before,  indeed,  she 
had  been  assailed  in  the  United  States,  and  for  a  similar  pur 
pose  —  to  suppress  and  crush  out  the  opposition  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  under  Jefferson  to  the  French  war  of  '98,  stirred 
up  by  the  Federal  party  under  the  elder  Adams ;  and  my  dis 
tinguished  friend  here,  Gen.  Geo.  W.  Morgan,  statesman  in 
peace,  hero  in  war,  chivalric  gentleman  at  all  times,  bears  in 
his  veins  the  blood  of  a  martyr  to  freedom  of  the  press  five- 
and-twenty  years  before  I  was  born.  But  the  re-action  came  ; 
the  Democratic  party  triumphed,  and  the  Constitution  was 
'  saved  at  the  last  gasp/  [Applause.] 


416  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"Under  circumstances  suck  as  I  have  described,  you,  the 
men  of  Knox  and  of  other  counties  near  you,  assembled  upon 
this  spot,  sacred  thenceforth  and  forever  to  liberty,  to  the  num 
ber  of  more  then  ten  thousand.  ;Twas  May-day  in  the  year 
of  grace  1863.  The  sun  shone  brightly;  a  thousand  banners 
streamed  peacefully  in  the  gentle  breeze ;  every  bird  was  upon 
the  wing,  and  the  forest  rang  vocal  to  their  cheering  melody. 
The  flowers,  too,  lent  their  sweetest  perfumes,  and  the  blue 
sky  above  was 

4  So  cloudless,  clear,  and  purely  beautiful, 
That  God  alone  was  to  be  seen  in  heaven.' 

"But  while  all  nature  thus  gave  signs  of  good-will  through 
out  her  realm,  and  God  commanded  peace  through  all  His 
works,  far  other  was  the  scene  which  man  had  ordained  for  the 
passions  of  his  heart  and  the  labors  of  his  hands.  Mars  drove 
heavily  and  headlong  his  fiery  chariot,  while  Terror,  with  gor- 
gon  head,  turned  Religion  and  Pity  and  Mercy  into  stone. 
Your  assembling,  men  of  Knox,  was  an  act  of  courage  unsur 
passed  in  history.  Not  Grecian,  nor  Roman,  nor  Swiss,  nor 
English  heroism  ever  excelled  it.  The  days  of  the  Tells,  and 
the  StaufFachers,  and  the  Winkelrieds  of  history,  and  the  Biccler- 
manns  and  Donnerhiigels  of  fiction ;  of  Bruce,  of  ITampden, 
of  Sidney,  and  of  Russell,  had  returned  in  America ;  and  proudly, 
bravely,  boldly  we  all  met  the  crisis.  You  demanded  that  1 
should  speak  in  your  name,  and  I  obeyed,  hurling  defiance  at 
tyrants  and  usurpers  and  defilers  of  the  holy  temple  of  liberty 
wheresoever  found.  Standing  here  upon  this  spot,  and  under 
the  same  flag  which  floats  now  from  the  platform,  I  declared 
the  war  ' cruel  and  unnecessary;7  and  it  was.  [Cries  of  "That's 
so."]  So  had  said  Abraham  Lincoln :  ( not  waged  for  the  pre 
servation  of  the  Union  ; '  and  it  was  not;  ( but  for  the  purpose 
of  crushing  out  liberty  and  establishing  a  despotism ; 9  Congress 
has  so  enacted,  and  who  to-day  doubts  it  ?  'A  war  for  the  free 
dom  of  the  blacks  /  so  it  was,  and  this  is  now  the  boast  of  the. 
leaders  of  the  Republican  party :  '  a  war  for  the  enslavement 
of  the  whites ; '  and  to-day  the  wailing  cry  of  six  millions  of 
white  men,  disfranchised,  burdened,  oppressed,  bruised,  and 
crushed  under  the  heel  of  a  military  despotism,  established, 
not  under  the  Constitution,  but  by  warrant  of  the  right  of  con- 
guest,  attests  the  prescient  truth  of  the  declaration.  '  Order  38 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLAND1GHAM.  417 

a  usurpation  of  power ; '  and  such  it  was,  soon  after  trampled 
under  foot,  despised  and  spit  upon  by  thirty  thousand  freemen 
assembled  in  Ohio's  capital.  '  That  I  was  at  all  times  and 
upon  all  occasions  resolved  to  do  what  I  could  to  defeat  the 
attempts  which  were  being  made  to  build  up  a  monarchy  upon 
the  ruins  of  free  government.'  Was  ever  prophecy  so  fulfilled? 
And  here,  to-day,  in  presence  of  twenty  thousand  freemen  of 
Ohio,  on  bended  knee,  and  upon  this  the  self-same  spot,  I 
thank  my  God  that  I  have  been  enabled  to  keep  the  resolution; 
and  now  in  His  presence,  and  before  you  my  witnesses,  I 
renew  the  holy  vow,  and  swear  by  the  great  white  throne  and 
Him  who  sitteth  thereon,  that,  slavery  having  perished,  the 
Union  of  our  fathers,  and  the  Constitution  of  our  fathers,  and 
the  liberties  secured  by  them,  shall  be  preserved  to  us  and  our 
children's  children  forever !  [Applause.] 

"  Far  other  scene,  men  of  Knox,  is  witnessed  here  now.  In 
the  calm  of  an  autumnal  day,  with  a  mellow  October  sun  shin 
ing  down  cheerily  upon  us,  not  ten,  but  twenty  thousand  free 
men  greet  the  return  of  the  exile  and  bid  him  good  cheer ! 
[Great  applause.]  There  is  no  war  in  the  land  to-day,  no 
military  despots  here,  no  arbitrary  arrests,  no  military  trials, 
no  'orders'  of  whatsoever  number,  no  provost-marshal,  no 
judge-advocate,  no  conscriptions,  no  bastiles,  no  mobs,  no 
assassinations,  no  exile,  110  scaffolds.  [Applause.]  There  are 
no  spies  here  to-day  to  pollute  this  sacred  presence.  In  peace, 
in  ease  of  mind,  in  the  '  truce  of  God,'  in  security,  with  joy 
welling  from  every  heart,  beaming  from  every  eye  and  speaking 
from  every  tongue,  in  shouts  such  as  only  freemen  can  send  up, 
till  the  hollow  concave  above  us  rings  again,  we  are  assembled 
to  celebrate  the  grandest  political  triumph  ever  achieved. 
[Applause.] 

"And  now,  my  friends,  without  further  exultation,  allow 
me,  in  humbler  and  more  measured  tread,  to  recur  to  the- 
lessons  which  this  extraordinary  victory  teaches  us.  And,  first 
of  all,  I  reckon  faith  in  God  and  the  right,  and  along  with 
these  the  patience  which,  steadfastly  and  without  doubt  or 
question,  abides  the  leisure  of  Him  who  doeth  all  things  well. 
There  is  something  more  than  sublime  in  that  faith  whichr 
walking  not  by  sight,  sees  yet  the  future  as  the  present,,  and 
catches  the  first  faint  echoing  of  the  footsteps  of  the  Hereafter 
as  he  treads  slowly  but  surely  along  the  corridors  of  Time. 

217 


418  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANBIGHAM. 

Such  has  been  the  faith  of  the  heroes  and  the  martyrs,  the 
actors  and  the  sufferers  of  every  age  and  clime 

"  Another  lesson  of  this  great  victory,  men  of  Knox,  is  not 
the  duty  merely,  but  the  profitableness  of  a  stern,  inflexible 
adherence  to  principle.  The  Democracy  of  Ohio,  turning  a 
deaf  ear  to  the  glozing,  whispering,  ghastly  delusion  and  snare 
of  i  policy/  so-called  and  miscalled,  which  would  fain  bargain, 
and  cheat,  and  steal  into  office  and  power  only  to  raven  like 
the  wolf  and  divide  the  spoil,  have  fought  and  won  this  fight 
upon  the  ancient,  the  straightest,  sternest,  ruggedest  issues  and 
doctrines  of  the  party.  They  yielded  not  an  inch ;  and  through 
out  the  entire  canvass,  as  for  years  past,  they  stood  by  and 
upheld  the  men  who  had  been  singled  out  as  the  special  objects 
of  Radical  odium  and  reproach.  They  loved  and  honored, 
above  all,  those  whom  the  Republican  party  hated  and  affected 
to  despise.  They  murmured  not  against  their  leaders,  though 
they  had  neither  manna  from  heaven  nor  water  from  the  rock. 
And  to-day  they  possess  the  heritage  of  their  enemies.  Cour 
age,  men  of  Knox,  courage !  Stand  by  principle,  and  by  the 
men  who  represent  principle,  and  not  the  mere  policy  and  spoils 
of  political  warfare. 

"  Next,  and  with  peculiar  pleasure,  let  me  bestow  the  meed 
of  praise  upon  the  gallant  volunteers  of  Ohio,  two-thirds  of 
whom  united  with  the  Democratic  party  in  the  recent  conflict. 
Soldiers,  you  did  a  work  of  courage  high  above  that  which  on 
the  battle-field  gave  you  a  name  to  live  in  American  history. 
In  the  beginning  you  rallied  to  the  old  flag  of  your  country, 
asking  no  questions  of  pay  or  pensions  or  bounty,  assured  that 
this  Union  was  imperiled  and  the  Federal  authority  mocked 
by  rebellion.  The  Constitution,  the  Union,  the  flag :  these 
were  the  battle-cries  which  called  a  whole  people  to  arms.  OnCG 
enlisted,  in  a  little  while  the  illusion  vanished.  But  the  strong 
arm  of  military  discipline  held  you.  Then,  cut  off  from  all 
intercourse  and  communication  with  home,  except  such  only  as 
was  permitted  to  one  party  alone,  you  were  taught  to  regard 
your  fathers,  your  mothers,  your  brothers,  your  sisters,  all  who 
adhered  to  the  Democratic  party,  as  enemies  and  traitors  to  their 
country.  I  who  speak  to  you  here  to-day,  was  above  all  men 
so  reviled.  But  the  war  ended.  You  made  your  last  march, 
your  last  bivouac;  saw  the  last  embers  of  your  camp-fires, 
heard  the  last  gun  fired  and  the  last  drum  beat,  and  listened 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  419 

at  length  with  eyes  full  of  tears  and  hearts  full  of  joy  to  the 
swelling  notes  of  the  final  '  recall '  which  spoke  to  you  of  home 
and  hearth-stone  and  mother !  You  are  here,  God  be  praised, 
though  many  a  comrade's  bones  and  dust  repose  in  a  far  distant 
soil.  You  are  here,  your  own  masters,  to  judge  and  act  and 
vote  as  you  will.  The  false  practices  of  those  who  imposed 
upon  or  tyrannised  over  you,  stand  revealed  to-day  —  their  real 
acts  in  the  past,  their  real  designs  for  the  future.  Your  eyes 
are  opened.  The  accumulated  frauds  and  falsehoods  of  six 
years  have  perished  before  your  scrutinising  vision.  And  now 
to  you,  { Boys  in  Blue/  in  this  presence,  and  before  these  my 
witnesses,  let  me  say  that  all  you  ever  heard  and  all  you  ever 
read  charging  me  with  hostility  in  thought  or  word  or  deed, 
at  any  time  or  in  any  place  or  in  any  station  public  or  pri 
vate,  to  you  personally  or  as  soldiers,  is  totally  and  absolutely 
false.  We  differed  as  to  the  war.  You  had  a  right  to  your 
opinions  ;  I  to  mine.  These  are  the  same  now  as  in  and  from 
the  beginning.  As  to  yours,  answer  for  yourselves  in  the  light 
of  the  history  of  the  past  six  years.  But  now,  and  here,  upon 
this  spot,  bring  forward  any  responsible  endorser  of  the  false 
hoods  I  have  denounced,  any  man  of  note,  prince  or  peer,  from 
highland  or  lowland,  from  far  or  near,  and  I  will  tell  him  to 
his  teeth, 

"  Lord  Angus,  thou  hast  lied." 

"  Finally,  men  of  Knox,  we  have  won  a  great  and  magni 
ficent  victory.  What  shall  we  do  with  it  ?  Upon  this  question, 
so  comprehensive,  so  significant,  so  momentous,  depends  not 
merely  whether  the  Democratic  party  shall  go  forward  to  future 
and  further  triumphs,  but  whether  it  shall  live.  If  it  shall  be 
true  to  principle,  true  to  the  men  who  represent  principle,  full 
of  courage,  hearkening  to  np  timid  counsel,  yet  securing  har 
mony  and  good-will  in  its  ranks ;  if  firmly  and  with  inexor 
able  purpose  it  shall  do  the  work  appointed  for  it,  and  with  all 
this,  shall  combine  wisdom  and  honesty  and  moderation  and 
justice  in  all  its  acts ;  above  all,  if  in  every  measure  and 
utterance  outside  the  limits  of  mere  party  organization,  it  shall 
consult  the  good  of  the  country,  and  not  of  party,  or,  baser  still, 
the  men  of  the  party,  it  will  rule  again  in  the  affairs  of  the 
State  Government  and  the  Federal  Government  for  a  hundred 
years  to  come.  But  if,  taking  counsel  of  the  timid,  the  venal, 
the  corrupt,  it  shall  shrink  from  an  absolute  and  courageous 


420  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

assertion  of  its  principles,  and  enforcement  of  its  policies  and 
vindication  of  its  public  men;  if  it  shall  halt  one  jot  or  tittle 
in  its  support  of  the  issues  upon  which  it  won  the  fight ;  if  it 
shall  permit  dissension  and  discord  as  to  candidates  or  upon 
policies  and  measures  of  legislation ;  especially  if,  forgetting 
that  it  is  a  Democracy,  it  shall  have  regard  rather  to  the 
interest  of  capital  than  of  labor,  of  the  rich  than  the  poor,  the 
few  than  the  many;  and  sluu.  consider  section,  or  party,  or 
self,  rather  than  the  country  and  the  whole  country  —  in  the  day 
that  it  shall  eat  of  such  fruit  it  shall  surely  die,  and  upon  its 
gravestone,  for  monument  it  will  have  none,  shall  be  inscribed 
the  lamentation  of  Carthage  over  her  greatest  son,  'You 
knew  how  to  conquer,  but  not  how  to  use  the  victory.7  [Great 
cheering.]" 

Mr.  McCulloch,  the  very  able  correspondent  of  the  Cincin 
nati  Commercial,  who  reported  this  speech,  wrote  on  the  same 
day  the  following  letter  from  Mount  Vernon,  in  which  he  gives 
some  interesting  gossip  in  relation  to  the  contest  for  United 
States  Senator  which  followed  the  election  of  1867. 

"  MOUNT  VERNON,  OHIO,  October  25. 

"  While  the  Democratic  party  of  Ohio  was  in  a  minority 
that  seemed  hopeless,  and  would  have  remained  so  but  for  the 
indiscreet  zeal  of  its  opponents,  its  leaders  were  a  band  of 
brothers,  united  by  a  tie  of  fraternal  affection  equaled  only  by 
that  recorded  of  David  and  Jonathan,  Castor  and  Pollux, 
Damon  and  Pythias,  or  other  loving  ones  whose  mutual  admi 
rations  are  the  subjects  of  sacred  and  profane  .histories.  A 
year  ago,  if  Vallandigham  had  been  asked  who  was  the  greatest 
of  living  statesmen,  he  would  have  unhesitatingly  responded 
'  George  H.  Pendleton ; '  to  the  same  inquiry  Mr.  Pendleton 
would  have  responded,  ( Clement  L.  Vallandigham.'  .  .  . 

"  There  are  some  features  of  this  contest  worthy  of  especial 
note,  and  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  mentioning  a  few  of  them 
that  this  letter  is  written.  First,  the  subterranean  bitterness 
with  which  it  is  being  conducted  ought  to  be  noticed,  because 
it  is  in  such  contrast  with  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love  that 
appears  on  the  surface.  Vallandigham's  friends  are  swearing 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  421 

blue  vengeance  upon  all  who  refuse  to  support  him,  or  who 
assert  that  to  elect  him  would  injure  the  prospects  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  in  the  future ;  and  Val.  himself  answers  all  such 
objections  by  appeals  to  history  and  philosophy,  and  the  pro 
verbial  zeal  of  new  converts.  When  the  fear  is  expressed  that 
his  election  would  drive  back  to  the  Republican  ranks  all  the 
accessions  made  to  the  Democracy  in  the  late  elections,  he  replies 
that  those  who  voted  the  Democratic  ticket  for  the  first  time 
this  fall  are  more  ultra  Democratic  to-day  than  those  who 
have  been  voting  it  all  their  lives.  Another  remarkable 
feature  of  the  fight  is  the  difference  of  opinion  between  the 
Democratic  people  and  the  Democratic  politicians  on  the  sub 
ject  of  Vallandigham.  Of  those  who  voted  the  Democratic 
ticket  on  the  8th  of  October,  a  very  large  majority  would  un 
questionably  vote  Vallandigham  into  the  Senate  if  the  matter 
were  submitted  to  them  for  decision,  and  yet  in  many  places 
where  he  is  strongest  with  the  people  he  is  weakest  with  the 
politicians.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  this  inconsistency  in  a 
party  professing  so  much  faith  in  the  vox  populi.  My  own 
impression  is  that  the  true  solution  of  the  problem  is  to  be 
found  in  the  jealousy  of  Vallandigham's  popularity  which 
pervades  the  breasts  of  many  would-be  leaders  of  the  Democ 
racy,  rather  than  in  any  well-meant  efforts  to  secure  or  preserve 
the  ascendancy  of  the  party  by  keeping  such  an  '  extreme  man ? 
in  the  background.  The  latter  is  a  very  convenient  pretext, 
and  its  diligent  application  in  the  case  of  Vallandigham  has 
many  parallels  in  the  political  history  of  this  and  other 
countries.  It  is  not  the  first  time  that  mediocre  talents  have 
yelped  themselves  into  official  station  by  an  unmeaning  outcry 
against  men  who  differ  from  their  possessor  principally  in 
having  more  brains.  .  .  . 

"  I  shall  not  attempt  to  account  for  Mr.  Vallandigham's 
popularity  among  the  Democratic  masses ;  least  of  all  shall  I 
attribute  it  to  the  same  cause  to  which  I  attribute  his  unpop 
ularity  among  the  Democratic  politicians.  I  have  attended 
two  *  jollification'  meetings  recently,  and  have  seen  at  each  such 
demonstrations  in  the  direction  of  hero-worship  as  are  seldom 
exhibited  in  this  country.  .  .  . 

"  The  speech  occupied  a  little  over  an  hour  in  its  delivery, 
and  I  thought  that  at  its  conclusion  the  assembled  Democrats 
would  quietly  disperse  to.  their  respective  homes.  But  not  so. 


422  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

The  ovation,  instead  of  having  ended,  had  just  commenced, 
and  for  about  an  hour  there  was  such  a  scene  of  wild  con 
fusion,  produced  by  attempts  to  congratulate  the  speaker,  as  si 
seldom  witnessed  by  any  one,  and  I  hope  will  never  again 
be  witnessed  by  me  except  from  a  respectful  distance.  They 
crowded  around  his  carriage,  they  choked  every  avenue  of 
travel  about  him,  and  conducted  themselves  in  a  general  way 
like  so  many  lunatics,  .  .  . 

"  Meantime,  while  the  people  are  enthused  for  Val.,  the  poli 
ticians  are  calmly  surveying  the  scene  and  calculating  the 
results.  As  far  as  I  can  learn,  a  majority  of  the  Democratic 
members  elect  to  the  Legislature  have  expressed  themselves  in 
favor  of  Judge  Thurman.  There  is  a  possibility  that  Mr.  Pcn- 
dleton  may  come  in  as  a  compromise  candidate,  or  rather  there 
was  such  a  possibility  before  the  Enquirer  threw  cold  water  on 
it  by  nominating  its  favorite  for  the  Presidency.  The  greater 
does  not  include  the  less  in  politics,  and  if  Mr.  Pendleton  is  a 
candidate  for  President  he  can't  be  made  Senator  —  that's 
certain.  The  quarrel  is  a  little  mixed  as  it  stands,  and  prom 
ises  to  wax  into  extreme  liveliness  before  it  terminates.  Val.'s 
strongest  point  is  that  the  Republican  party  made  the  issue  on 
him,  and  that  the  election  of  a  Democratic  Legislature  meant 
his  election  as  Senator." 

The  contest  for  Senator  between  Mr.  Yallandigham  and 
Judge  Thurman  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1868,  was 
carried  on  by  their  respective  partisans  with  great  earnestness 
and  bitterness.  Nearly  all  the  Democratic  politicians  of  the 
State  were  enlisted  in  it,  and  went  to  Columbus  to  join  in  the 
conflict.  The  principal  objections  urged  against  him  were  his 
radical  Democracy,  his  alleged  rashness,  and  the  prominent 
part  he  took  in  opposition  to  the  wTar.  When  the  caucus  met, 
Judge  Thurman  received  the  nomination  by  a  decided  major 
ity.  It  is  useless  to  conceal  the  fact  that  Mr.  Vallandigham 
was  deeply  chagrined  at  this  result.  The  Senatorship  had 
been  his  life-long  aspiration,  and  he  felt  keenly  at  the  time, 
and  deeply  till  the  day  of  his  death,  the  disappointment  of 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.     VALLANDIGHAM.  423 

his  defeat.  It  was  the  only  defeat  he  ever  suffered  (and  he 
was  not  a  fortunate  politician)  that  really  grieved  him,  or 
caused  him  more  than  momentary  mortification  or  depression. 
He  did  not  waste  his  breath  or  degrade  his  character  by 
unmanly  repining,  but  when  he  returned  home  from  Colum 
bus  upon  this  occasion,  he  appeared  for  days  as  if  a  dark 
shadow  had  fallen  upon  his  soul. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1868,  the  Democratic  Convention  to 
nominate  candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  met  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham,  although  not  a  delegate,  went  on  to  New  York  and  took 
up  lodgings  in  a  quiet,  retired  portion  of  the  city  a  few  days 
before  the  Convention.  He  did  not  come  on  to  work  for  any 
candidate,  at  least  not  at  first ;  for  on  account  of  a  coldness 
which  had  unfortunately  arisen  between  Mr.  Pendleton  and 
himself,  growing  out  of  the  Senatorial  contest,  he  would  not 
give  that  gentleman  his  active  support ;  and  yet  on  account  of 
old  memories  of  friendship,  and  because  Mr.  Pendleton  was  the 
favorite  of  the  Ohio  Democracy,  he  would  do  nothing  against 
him.  He  was  persuaded,  however,  that  the  only  hope  of 
assured  success  to  the  Democracy  was  the  nomination  of  Chief- 
Justice  Chase.  Nor  did  he  regard  the  support  of  Chase  as 
inconsistent ;  for  that  gentleman  had  always  been  a  Democrat 
in  principle,  and  an  extreme  State  rights  man,  differing  from 
the  old  orthodox  Democracy  only  upon  those  questions  which 
had  been  finally  settled  by  wager  of  battle.  In  the  course  of 
events  in  the  Convention  it  soon  became  necessary  to  strengthen 
the  Ohio  delegation,  and  Mr.  "Vallandigham  for  this  purpose 
was  substituted  for  another  gentleman.  He  immediately 
dropped  all  recollection  of  personal  grievances,  and  steadfastly 


424  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  earnestly  supported  Mr.  Pendleton  until  his  name  was 
withdrawn.  The  contest  after  this  seemed  to  be  between  Gen. 
Hancock  and  Mr.  Hendricks.  Mr.  Pendleton  had  written  a 
letter  favorable  to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Seymour,  to  be  used 
if  it  should  prove  necessary  to  withdraw  his  own  name ;  and 
Mr.  Pendleton's  friends  were  determined  that  Mr.  Hendricks 
should  not  be  the  nominee.  They  were  influenced  by  two 
reasons  in  their  opposition  to  Mr.  Hendricks :  first,  they  accused 
his  friends  of  acting  in  bad  faith  towards  Mr.  Pendleton ;  and 
second,  they  considered  that  the  nomination  of  the  Indiana 
Senator  would  destroy  all  chances  for  their  favorite  in  1872,  it 
not  being  likely  that  two  "Western  men  living  in  States  contigu 
ous  would  be  nominated  successively  by  the  Democrats.  Mr. 
Vallandigham  still  regarded  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Chase  with 
favor,  but  necessarily  he  was  governed  to  a  considerable  extent 
in  his  course  by  a  consideration  of  the  future  interests  of  Mr. 
Pendleton  and  by  the  views  of  Mr.  Pendletoii's  friends ;  he 
had,  however,  no  shadow  of  personal  enmity  to  Mr.  Hendricks. 
The  night  of  the  8th  of  July  was  one  of  feverish  excitement 
in  New  York  amongst  all  who  were  interested  in  the  result  of 
the  Convention.  Mr.  Vallandigham  scarcely  slept  during  the 
whole  night ;  and  he  was  consulted  by  men  from  nearly  every 
State  in  the  Union.  Early  in  the  evening  it  was  decided  to 
withdraw  Mr.  Pendleton's  name,  but  every  one  was  in  the  dark 
as  to  what  would  be  the  result  of  this  movement.  Towards 
morning  the  knowing  ones  were  confident  that  it  would  be 
speedily  followed  by  the  nomination  of  Chief- Justice  Chase; 
owing,  however,  to  circumstances  which  we  have  not  space  to 
detail,  the  Ohio  delegation  presented  the  name  of  Horatio 
Seymour,  who  on  the  next  ballot  —  the  22d  —  received  317 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  425 

votes,  and  was  immediately  after  unanimously  declared  the 
nominee  of  the  Convention. 

After  the  New  York  Convention  Mr.  Vallandigham 
returned  home,  and  for  the  time  devoted  himself  exclusively 
to  the  editorial  management  of  the  Dayton  Ledger,  in  which 
paper  he  had  then  a  proprietary  interest.  The  Congres 
sional  canvass  was  coming  on  in  the  Third.  District,  and  it 
was  generally  conceded  that  Gen.  Schenck  would  again  be  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  Republican  party.  Two  years  previous 
Gen.  Schenck  had  beaten  the  Democratic  nominee,  Gen.  Durbin 
Ward,  1067  votes.  The  question  among  Democrats  was, 
"  Whom  shall  we  enter  against  Schenck?"  Gen.  Ward  early 
announced  himself  as  a  candidate,  but  not  before  assuring  him 
self  that  Mr.  V.  had  no  ambition  in  that  direction.  Many 
leading  Democrats  of  the  District  waited  upon  Mr.  V.  and 
asked  him  to  be  a  candidate,  but  to  all  he  made  but  one  reply : 
he  would  not  be  a  candidate.  At  that  time  there  was  a  reason 
able  hope  that  the  reaction  had  come  that  was  to  carry  the 
Democracy  into  power.  To  all  of  his  friends  Mr.  Vallandig 
ham  said :  "  If  we  are  successful  this  fall  in  the  election  of  a 
Democratic  administration,  I  shall  hope  for  something  better 
in  politics  than  a  seat  in  Congress;  without  a  Democratic 
administration  I  have  no  desire  to  become  a  member  of  that 
body."  In  this  determination  he  was  fixed  and  unalterable, 
though  urged  as  few  men  have  ever  been  to  allow  the  use  of  his 
name.  With  the  understanding  that  Mr.  V.  would  not  be  a 
candidate,  several  other  prominent  Democrats  entered  the  arena. 
Among  them  were  Hon.  Christopher  Hughes,  of  Butler;  Stephen 
Crane,  Esq.,  of  Butler;  and  Jonathan  Kenny,  Esq.,  of  Mont 
gomery.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Vallandigham,  expressing  the 


426  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

kindest  feelings  for  all  the  candidates,  made  no  secret  of  his 
preference  for  Mr.  John  A.  McMahon.  He  seemed  to  think  that 
Mr.  M.,  being  a  popular  man  in  both  Butler  and  Montgomery 
Counties,  and  in  fact  throughout  the  District,  would  be  the 
most  available  candidate  to  cope  with  Schenck.  He  knew  the 
foeman  and  the  nature  of  the  struggle.  Mr.  McMahon  op 
posed  the  proposition  to  make  him  a  candidate  from  the  first, 
despite  the  urgings  of  Mr.  Vallandigham. 

The  nominating  convention  was  held  at  Hamilton,  Butler 
County,  on  Tuesday,  the  18th  day  of  August.  Up  to  the 
morning  of  the  convention  the  political  status  was  precisely  as 
above  indicated  —  Mr.  McMahon  stoutly  protesting  against  his 
proposed  candidacy  and  Mr.  Vallandigham  insisting,  with  the 
belief  that  if  the  nomination  was  made  Mr.  McM.  would  ac 
cept.  Before  the  assembling  of  the  Convention  it  was  made 
known  that  Mr.  McMahon  had  placed  in  the  hands  of  Hon. 
Geo.  W.  Houk  a  positive  letter  of  declination,  which  he  in 
structed  him  to  read  to  the  Convention  in  case  of  the  presenta 
tion  of  his  name.  This  fact  was  telegraphed  to  Mr.  Vallandig 
ham,  then  in  Dayton.  His  response  was  that  Houk  must 
be  prevailed  upon  to  withhold  the  letter.  He  sent  a  number 
of  telegrams  to  this  effect  to  his  friends,  and  finally,  as  a  dernier 
resort,  telegraphed  that  if  possible  McMahon  should  be  nom 
inated  over  his  letter  and  against  his  protestation.  We 
mention  this  fact  in  order  to  impress  the  point  that  Mr.  V. 
had  no  wish  to  be  a  candidate,  but  that  he  was  firmly  devoted 
to  Mr.  McMahon.  The  charge  of  bad  faith,  afterward  made 
against  him,  was  without  ground  and  wholly  unwarranted. 

The  Convention  met  at  10  o'clock  at  Opera  Hall,  and  Hon. 
Geo.  W.  Houk,  of  Montgomery,  was  made  chairman.  It 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  427 

was  apparent  from  the  commencement  that  a  strong  feeling  ex 
isted  in  the  Convention  in  favor  of  Vallandigham.  Many 
believed  that  he  of  all  others  was  the  man  to  meet  and  battle 
Schenck,  but  the  general  understanding  that  he  would  not 
be  a  candidate  served  to  divide  up  the  vote  among  the. other 
candidates  in  such  a  way  as  to  deprive  any  one  man  of  a 
majority.  The  struggle  seemed  to  be  between  Gen.  Ward  and 
Hon.  Stephen  Crane.  The  nominations  made  were  as  follows: 
Durbin  Ward,  of  "Warren;  Christopher  Hughes,  of  Butler; 
Stephen  Crane,  of  Butler,  and  Jonathan  Kenny,  of  Mont 
gomery.  On  the  first  ballot  Ward  received  28 J-  votes; 
Hughes  15  J;  Crane  17,  and  Kenny  1;  whole  vote  62;  neces 
sary  to  a  choice  32.  The  second  ballot  resulted,  Ward  29  J; 
Crane  18;  Hughes  llf,  and  Kenny  2.  At  this  point  the 
Butler  County  delegation  asked  and  obtained  leave  to  with 
draw  for  consultation.  It  should  be  here  observed  that  Mr. 
McMahon  was  placed  in  nomination  '  after  the  first  ballot, 
but  the  President  refused  to  entertain  it  in  view  of  his 
positive  instructions.  Upon  the  return  of  the  Butler  dele 
gation,  Peter  Murphy  withdrew  the  name  of  Mr.  Hughes. 
The  name  of  Mr.  Crane  was  withdrawn  about  this  time, 
and  Mr.  Samuel  Dickey  arose,  and  in  a  brief  but  stirring  ad 
dress  placed  in  nomination  C.  L.  Vallandigham.  The  sug 
gestion  was  received  with  storms  of  applause,  and  for  ten  min 
utes  it  was  impossible  to  quell  the  enthusiasm  which  the 
announcement  evoked.  Order  being  restored,  a  vote  was  had, 
which  resulted  as  follows:  Vallandigham,  51 J;  Ward,  10  J. 
A  scene  ensued  upon  the  heels  of  this  announcement  seldom  if 
ever  witnessed  in  a  similar  body.  Cheer  after  cheer  went  up, 
hats  were  tossed  into  the  air,  old  men  swung  their  coats  above 


428  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

their  heads,  and  for  the  time  it  seemed  that  the  representative 
Democracy  of  the  Third  District  had  gone  mad  with  joy.  It 
was  an  ovation  such  as  any  man  might  well  be  proud  of. 

That  night  a  committee  which  had  been  appointed  to  notify 
Mr.  Vallandigham  of  his  nomination,  waited  upon  him  at  his 
home  in  Dayton.  He  received  them  cordially,  and  in  a  brief 
speech  accepted  the  nomination,  as  coming  spontaneously  from 
his  friends  and  political  associates.  He  again  reiterated  his 
feeling  in  reference  to  the  nomination,  and  assured  his  friends 
that  he  had  not  sought  the  honor. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  at  first  there  was  considerable  op 
position  in  the  party-ranks  to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Vallan 
digham.  It  came  from  the  friends  of  defeated  candidates  and 
those  who  believed  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  had  already  received 
sufficient  marks  of  confidence  from  the  people  of  his  district, 
but  in  less  than  two  weeks  all  differences  were  healed.  Mr. 
Vallandigham  at  once  went  to  work  with  an  energy  and  will 
such  as  few  men  ever  possessed,  and  gave  his  friends  to  under 
stand  that  he  appreciated  the  nature  of  the  task  before  him. 
Schenck  immediately  came  into  the  district,  backed  by  the  money 
and  influence  of  Eastern  capitalists  who  appreciated  the  need 
of  the  continuance  of  the  great  "  tariffite "  in  Congress,  and 
such  a  battle  was  fought  as  was  never  fought  in  the  political 
history  of  Ohio.  It  was  a  national  struggle.  Both  men  were 
regarded  as  true  representatives  of  party ;  the  district  was  at 
that  time  rather  closely  divided,  and  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
country  were  upon  them.  Never  in  Mr.  Vallandigham's 
career  did  he  exhibit  such  political  sagacity,  untiring  zeal,  in 
domitable  will,  and  power  for  organising,  controlling,  and 
marshalling  political  hosts.  He  seemed  to  be  ubiquitous.  The 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM,  429 

second  week  of  the  campaign  found  hundreds  of  men  enlisted 
under  his  banner  who  had  in  times  past  been  his  bitterest 
enemies.  Many  who  but  a  few  months  previous  had  fought 
him,  now  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  his  army.  During  the 
campaign  he  spoke  nearly  every  day.  He  went  all  over  the 
district,  and  everywhere  gave  personal  supervision  to  the  can 
vass.  When  at  home  he  worked  every  night  in  his  office, 
writing  letters  and  making  personal  appeals.  It  is  believed,  and 
in  fact  he  so  stated  himself,  that  during  that  memorable  cam 
paign  he  did  not  average  more  than  four  hours7  sleep  in  twenty- 
four.  Schenck  imported  to  the  district  the  best  talent  and 
most  aggressive  orators  upon  the  Radical  side.  Vallandigham 
fought  almost  single-handed  and  alone. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  fight  he  received  from  Washington 
that  which  promised  at  first  to  be  a  substantial  aid.  It  was 
an  assurance  from  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair,  at  that  time  prom 
inent  in  the  councils  of  the  Johnson  Administration,  that  no 
revenue  appointments  would  be  made  for  the  Third  District 
which  had  not  received  his  (Vallandigham's)  recommendation. 
Schenck  was  not  long  in  finding  this  out,  and  by  appealing  to 
Commissioner  Rollins,  managed  to  thwart  the  movement  which 
promised  to  give  the  Democracy  the  control  of  the  large  army 
of  revenue  officials  in  the  Third  District.  Mr.  McCulloch,  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury,  could  appoint  the  storekeepers  under 
the  revenue  law,  but  the  power  of  assignment  belonged  to  Mr. 
Rollins,  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue.  Mr.  McCulloch 
made  seventeen  appointments  at  Mr.  Vallandigham's  request, 
but  General  Schenck  succeeded  in  persuading  Mr.  Rollins,  who 
was  a  Radical,  to  refuse  to  assign  any  of  Mr.  McCulloch's  ap 
pointments.  The  effect  was  that  through  Mr.  Rollins'  refusal 


430  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

to  assign,  sixteen  distilleries  were  kept  idle  in  the  Third  District 
during  the  whole  campaign,  causing  a  loss  of  revenue  to  the 
Government  estimated  by  the  Collector  at  about  $10,000  a  day. 

Mr.  Vallandigham.  was  sanguine  from  the  commencement. 
His  positiveness  was  infused  into  doubting  friends,  and  many 
votes  were  made  to  him  through  the  exercise  of  this  peculiar 
trait  of  character.  He  honestly  and  sincerely  believed  up  to 
the  night  before  the  battle  that  his  election  was  assured.  On 
the  day  of  the  election  he  went  in  person  to  the  Soldier's 
Home,  near  Dayton,  where  arrangements  had  been  made  by 
the  opposition  to  poll  against  him  the  votes  of  several  hundred 
non-residents,  but  by  his  presence  and  his  clear  enunciation  of 
the  statute  he  thwarted  the  enemy  and  prevented  the  outrage. 
For  this  act  he  was  afterward  severely  censured  by  the  par 
tisan  Radical  press,  but  subsequent  events  proved  the  wisdom 
and  even  policy  of  his  course. 

An  immense  amount  of  money  was  spent  during  the  cam 
paign  by  both  parties.  The  number  of  votes  cast  was  very 
large,  and  warranted  the  suspicion  that  a  good  many  of  them 
were  illegal.  The  vote  was  as  follows : 

Vallandigham.  Schenck. 

BUTLER 5,333  ...  3,200 

M  »NTGOMERY '6,557  •••  6,440 

PREBLE 1,979  -  2,769 

WARREN 1,949  -  3,884 

15,818  16,293 

—  Schenck's  majority,  475. 

The  night  of  the  election,  scores  of  telegrams  were  received 
in  the  District  from  all  parts  of  the  country  asking  the 
news ;  several  from  "Washburne  who  that  night  was  sitting 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  431 

up  with  General  Grant  to  learn  the  result  of  the  elec 
tions.  The  disappointment  of  Mr.  Vallandigham's  friends 
was  very  great,  even  much  more  than  his  own,  and  it  had  a 
most  depressing  effect  amongst  his  own  party  all  over  the 
State.  Although  beaten,  the  result  showed  that  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham  had  been  steadily  gaining  in  popularity  for  years.  The 
addition  of  Warren  County  in  1860,  with  a  Republican  ma 
jority  of  2,000,  to  the  old  Third  District,  made  it  very  strongly 
Republican.  But  a  comparison  of  the  vote  for  years  in  the 
old  District  first  represented  by  Mr.  Vallandigham  shows  how 
steadily  he  was  gaining  control  over  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
In  1854  he  was  beaten  2,562;  in  1856, 19  (including  illegal 
votes) ;  in  1858  he  carried  the  old  District  by  188,  in  1860  by 
134,  in  1862  by  700,  and  in  1868  by  1,452.  At  the  Presi 
dential  election  Grant  carried  the  District  by  a  very  large 
majority. 

In  January  1870  Mr.  Vallandigham  formed  a  partnership 
with  Hon.  Daniel  A.  Haynes,  who  had  been  the  Superior  Judge 
of  Montgomery  County.  From  this  time  he  earnestly  addressed 
himself  to  his  duties  as  a  lawyer;  and  his  practice,  which  had 
long  been  greatly  neglected,  continually  increased,  so  that  at 
the  time  of  his  death  it  was  very  large  and  lucrative.  As  a 
jury  lawyer  he  was  probably  excelled  by  few  in  the  United 
States  in  eloquence  and  general  effectiveness,  and  it  is  un 
fortunate  that  none  of  his  speeches  in  the  many  important 
cases  he  tried  between  the  years  1865  and  1871  were  ever  re 
ported,  for  in  the  judgment  of  able  critics  many  of  his  efforts 
at  the  bar  were  finer  specimens  of  real  eloquence  than  those  in 
Congress  and  on  the  hustings.  He  took  very  little  part  in 
politics  during  the  years  1869  and  1870.  In  the  latter  year 


432  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Hon.  L.  D.  Campbell,  his  former  political  rival  and  adversary, 
was  nominated  for  Congress  by  the  Democrats  of  the  District 
against  General  Schenck,  and  Mr.  Yallandigham  gave  Mr. 
Campbell  his  cordial  support.  Finding  a  few  days  before  the 
election  that  in  defiance  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State  an  effort  would  be  made  by  the  Radical  party  to 
poll  the  votes  of  the  inmates  of  the  "  Soldier's  Home  "  near 
Dayton,  he  determined  to  see  to  it  personally  that  this  viola 
tion  of  law  should  be  thwarted.  The  effort  was  made,  but 
early  in  the  morning  Mr.  Yallandigham  arrived  on  the  ground, 
and  by  his  boldness  and  firmness  the  attempt  of  Mr.  Schenek's 
friends  t<j  poll  over  six  hundred  illegal  votes  was  entirely  de 
feated.  '  This  secured  the  election  of  Mr.  Campbell.  The  de 
cision  by  which  the  "  Soldier's  Home  "  vote  had  been  declared 
illegal  was  made  in  a  case  which  Mr.  Yallandigham  argued  be 
fore  the  Supreme  Court;  and  the  judges  of  the  Court,  all  of  them 
members  of  the  Republican  party,  had  unanimously  concurred 

in  the  decision. 

• 

At  a  jubilee  meeting  held  in  honor  of  his  election,  Mr. 
Campbell  referred  in  the  following  terms  to  Mr.  Yallandig- 
ham's  conduct  during  this  campaign  : — 

"  I  thank,  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  those  magnanimous 
Democrats  who  came  forward  to  the  rescue,  and  helped  carry 
me  through  triumphantly  in  this  campaign.  [Applause ;  and 
cries  of  "  Yes,  yes,  we'll  always  do  it."]  It  would  be  impos 
sible  for  me  to  single  out  and  name  the  prominent  individuals 
of  the  Democratic  party  to  whose  individual  action  might  be 
attributed  this  success.  There  are  many  who  had  a  sufficient 
influence  in  their  respective  neighborhoods  to  have  produced 
my  defeat  if  they  had  used  that  power.  But  there  was  one  man 
of  prominence  —  one  man  known  and  recognised,  not  merely 
by  the  Democracy  of  this  district,  but  by  the  Democracy  of  the 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  433 

entire  nation,  as  one  of  eminent  ability,  who  had  occupied  high 
positions  in  the  party  —  whom  you  have  often  delighted  to 
honor  [enthusiastic  applause]  —  a  single  individual  who,  after 
my  nomination,  might  have  accomplished  my  defeat  by  a  nod, 
by  a  wave  of  his  hand,  by  the  wink  of  his  eye  —  a  man  who, 
unlike  those  I  have  described,  a  man  upon  whom  I  had  no 
claim  personally  or  politically,  with  a  magnanimity  unequalled 
by  anything  that  I  now  recollect  of,  came  forward  and  labored 
assiduously  to  enable  me  to  triumph  over  those  miserable  and 
pitiful  efforts  of  my  enemies.  [Applause.] 

"  I  say  that  I  had  no  personal  or  political  claims  upon  him, 
and  I  am  here  to-night  proudly  to  acknowledge  to  my  neigh-  . 
bors  and  countrymen  that  in  this  contest  he  gave  evidence  of 
a  magnanimity  that  I  could  not  have  claimed  for  myself.  That 
man  is  C.  L.  Vallandigham  [tremendous  applause] ;  and  with 
out  going,  my  fellow-citizens,  into  a  detail  of  what  he  has 
done,  let  me  refer  to  this  one  fact,  that  it  is  to  his  ability  as  a 
lawyer,  and  to  his  untiring  efforts,  that  the  question  as  to  the 
constitutional  right  of  the  inmates  of  the  '  Soldier's  Home '  to 
vote  was  brought  before  the  Supreme  Court,  and  there  decided 
in  the  negative." 

Just  before  the  jubilee  meeting  where  Mr.  Campbell  de 
livered  this  speech,  a  meeting  of  a  similar  character  was  held 
at  Dayton  which  Mr.  Vallandigham  addressed.  In  the  course 
of  his  remarks  he  took  the  occasion  to  give  the  colored  voters, 
of  whom  quite  a  number  were  present,  judicious  advice  in 
these  words :  — 

"  And  now  allow  me  a  word  to  our  newly  made  voters  of 
African  descent.  I  have  no  apologies  to  make  to-night  for 
anything  in  opposition  to  them  which  I  may  have  said  in 
times  past  —  nothing  now  to  take  back.  My  opinions  upon 
the  question  of  negro  suffrage  and  equality  remain  unchanged., 
[Loud  cheers.]  But  you  have  in  fact,  at  least,  been  made 
citizens  and  voters,  and  I  recognise  the  fact.  Some  of  you 
speak  of  me  as  an  enemy  of  your  race.  This  is  not  correct. 
Individually  I  have  been  your  friend.  I  have  taken  you 

28 


434  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM," 

by  the  hand  when  your  now  white  Republican  friends  shunned 
and  cursed  you.  At  my  doors  some  of  you  have  received 
that  charity,  in  years  past,  which  was  denied  you  at  the  hands 
of  your  Abolition  friends,  so-called.  [Cries,  "That's  so,  we 
know  it.77]  No  colored  man  ever  asked  a  personal  favor  of 
me  for  years  past  and  was  denied ;  and  as  well  before  you  had 
suffrage  conferred  upon  you  as  now,  I  would  have  protected 
you  in  court  or  against  a  mob  quite  as  willingly  and  as  ear 
nestly  as  any  other  man.  But  my  opinions  as  to  the  question 
of  conferring  political  rights  upon  you  in  this  country  were 
honestly  entertained  and  candidly  and  strongly  expressed. 
.Yet,  if  you  shall  prove  yourselves  worthy  of  these  rights  and 
capable  of  exercising  them  as  good  citizens,  I  will  then  very 
cheerf ully,  and  in  a  manlike  manner,  publicly  confess  myself 
mistaken.  Your  future  is  in  your  own  hands.  But  remember 
that  you  do  not  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  this  county,  nor 
in  this  district.  [Loud  cheers.]  You  cannot  control  things 
by  your  votes;  numbering  several  hundred  voters  here,  you 
are  yet  rather  a  source  of  weakness  than  of  strength  to  the 
Republican  party ;  and  you  owe  nothing  to  that  party  except 
the  mere  right  to  try  the  experiment  of  suffrage.  They  did 
not  confer  it  upon  you  for  your  sakes,  but  for  their  own  as 
partisans  and  demagogues.  [Loud  cheers.]  They  wanted 
your  votes  to  put  themselves  into  office  and  keep  themselves  in 
pOAver.  Beyond  this  they  care  nothing  for  you.  [Cries  of 
"  That's  so :  you're  right."]  The  mass  of  you  were  personal 
slaves,  or  the  descendants  of  slaves  in  the  South  before  and 
during  the  war.  At  the  point  of  the  bayonet  they  freed  you, 
only  now  to  make  you,  if  you  submit,  political  slaves  for  their 
own  profit  and  advancement.  And  now,  I,  who  owe  you 
nothing,  and  to  whom  you  owe  less  than  nothing  politically, 
warn  you  not  to  organise  as  a  colored  party.  Beware  of 
threatening  or  attempting  to  make  all  of  your  own  race  act 
and  vote  as  a  distinct  body.  If  you  do,  then  be  assured  that 
sooner  or  later  the  white  race  will  antagonise  you  as  white 
men ;  and  here  we  are  as  twenty  to  one.  In  a  political  struggle 
we  can  overwhelm  you.  In  a  contest  of  arms  —  in  a  war 
of  races,  if  you  provoke  it — we  can  crush  out  and  exterminate 

C.     Wherefore  be  wise  in  time.     The  Irish  do  not  vote  in  a 
y ;  neither  do  the  Germans,  nor  the  Americans  born ;  and 
be  assured  that  a  i Negro  party'  will  bring  forth  a  'White 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  435 

Man's'  party;  and  not  long  after  will  come  violence  and 
bloodshed.  If  you  would  prove  yourselves  worthy  to  be  and 
remain  citizens,  separate,  divide,  politically  and  otherwise,  as 
other  citizens  do.  Identify  yourselves  with  the  community  in 
which  you  live.  Refuse  to  be  made  the  slaves  and  tools  of 
demagogues ;  and  when  thus  you  shall  have  established  your 
fitness  for  citizenship,  no  one  will  ever  attempt  to  deprive  you 
of  its  rights.  Kemember  that  I,  who  speak  these  words,  owe 
you  nothing,  and  you  owe  me  nothing ;  but  right  or  wrong, 
wisely  or  unwisely,  you  have  been  forced  upon  us  as  citizens, 
and  I  counsel  you  now  as  such.  You  may  hearken  to  me,  or 
not,  just  as  it  shall  please  you  ;  but  be  assured  that  the  time 
will  come  when  you  will  say  that  I  counseled  you  most  wisely 
and  well.  [Loud  cheers.]  " 

The  five  years  which  we  have  just  briefly  reviewed  were 
the  least  exciting  and  eventful  of  Mr.  Yallandigham's  political 
life.  During  these  years  he  gave  most  of  his  time  and  attention 
to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  to  reading  and  study,  and  to 
the  society  of  his  family  and  friends.  Still,  as  will  be  seen,  he 
felt  a  deep  interest  and  took  an  active  part  in  political  affairs, 
was  part  of  the  time  editor  of  the  Dayton  Ledger,  partici 
pated  in  the  deliberations  of  the  National  Convention  of  1868, 
was  that  year  a  candidate  for  Congress,  and  in  the  Presidential 
and  Congressional  canvass  that  followed,  as  well  as  in  the  State 
canvass  of  1867,  he  labored  with  great  diligence  and  character 
istic  ardor  and  zeal. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE    NEW    DEPAETUEE. 

PEEHAPS  no  political  movement  in  this  country  ever  created 
a  greater  sensation  than  did  the  New  Departure.  This  name 
may  not  be  altogetner  appropriate  —  probably  it  is  not ;  but 
we  use  it  because  by  it  the  movement  is  generally  designated 
and  known.  It  was  not  a  sudden  thing  with  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham.  He  had  contemplated  it  for  more  than  a  year,  and  only 
waited  a  favorable  time  for  its  development.  That  time,  at 
least  in  his  opinion,  at  length  came. 

On  the  18th  day  of  May,  1871,  the  Democracy  of  Mont 
gomery  County,  Ohio,  met  in  convention  in  the  city  of  Dayton. 
The  object  of  the  meeting  was  to  appoint  delegates  to  the  State 
Convention  which  was  to  assemble  on  the  first  day  of  June. 
The  meeting  was  organised  by  the  election  of  the  Hon.  G.  "W. 
Houk,  President,  Judge  McKemy  and  Mayor  Morrison,  Vice- 
Presidents,  and  George  P.  Boyer,  Esq.,  Secretary. 

On  taking  the  chair  Mr.  Houk  made  an  able  address,  in 
which,  not  obscurely,  he  shadowed  forth  the  action  which  was 
afterwards  taken  by  the  meeting.  He  said : — 

"  To  entitle  the  Democratic  party  to  success  in  the  approach 
ing  contest,  we  must  make  a  distinct  declaration  of  our  prin 
ciples  and  purposes  upon  the  living  issues  of  the  present.  We 
are  a  historical,  but  not  merely  a  historical  organization.  ^  The 
task  before  us  now,  is  the  rescue  of  the  country  from  misrule 


LIFE   OF  CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  437 

and  the  preservation  of  our  constitutional  system  of  govern 
ment. 

"We  must  recognise  and  accept  the  changed  state  of  the 
country  as  actually  resulting  from  the  war. 

"  Democratic  principles  are  unchangeable,  but  Democratic 
statesmanship  modifies  in  countless  methods  the  application  of 
these  principles  to  the  changed  circumstances  and  necessities  of 
society. 

"  The  war  has  left  us  new  questions  to  meet — questions  of 
finance,  taxation,  citizenship,  and  constitutional  status. 

"It  is  folly  to  attempt  to  reverse  events.  If  an  earthquake 
has  made  a  lake  where  there  was  once  a  mountain,  men  must 
accept  the  lake  for  the  mountain. 

"So  in  political  convulsions.  It  is  only  true  political 
wisdom  to  recognise  and  accept  the  actual  changes,  for  it  is 
these  with  which  we  must  deal. 

"  Let  us  therefore  accept  universal  suffrage,  but  demand  that 
it  shall  be  universal.  Let  us  accept  the  amendments  that  have 
been  made  to  the  Constitution  as  de  facto  amendments,  and 
live  up  to  them,  subordinating  them  only  to  the  principles  of 
the  Constitution  itself. 

"We  might  as  well  talk  of  the  Tower  of  Babel  as  of 
slavery.  It  was  about  the  time  of  the  flood. 

"  So  also  of  other  matters  of  the  past. 

"  What  we  want  now  for  this  vigorous  body  of  the  young 
Democracy  is  not  the  dreamy  contemplation  of  the  past,  but 
the  energetic  spirit  of  the  present.  We  want  to  grapple  with 
what  is  before  us,  not  to  waste  our  strength  by  struggling  with 
that  which  is  receding  further  and  further  from  us  as  time 
advances. 

"What  we  predicted  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  as  the 
ultimate  result  of  slavery  agitation  and  the  ascendancy  of  that 
element  in  our  politics,  has  all  come  to  pass  —  civil  war, 
negro  equality,  and  all. 

"  Let  us  simply,  therefore,  recognise  things  as  they  are,  and 
by  our  organization  and  power  give  assurance  to  the  people  of 
the  country  that  we  will  correct  the  abuses  of  mal-administra- 
tion,  that  we  will  carefully  regard  the  rights  and  interest  of  the 
producing  and  industrial  classes,  whilst  extending  to  capital  all 
the  consideration  it  is  entitled  to ;  and  that  we  will  preserve  and 
defend  as  the  great  sheet-anchor  of  our  future  safety  and  great- 


438  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

ness  as  a  people,  the  true  principles  of  our  Constitutional  system 
of  government  as  established  by  its  founders/' 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  it  was  resolved  that  a 
committee  be  appointed  to  draft  resolutions  for  the  considera 
tion  of  the  meeting ;  whereupon  the  chair  appointed  the  fol 
lowing  :  C.  L.  "Vallandigham,  Dr.  A.  Geiger,  David  A.  Houk, 
Dr.  John  Kemp,  John  A.  McMahon,  Adam  Clay,  and  George 
Y  Naureth. 

After  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  the  State  Convention, 
and  the  transaction  of  some  other  business,  Mr.  "Vallandigham, 
from  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  reported  the  following : — 

"Whereas,  The  Democratic  party  of  1871  is  made  up  of 
men  who  previous  to  and  during  the  late  war,  as  also  for  a 
time  since,  entertained  totally  different  opinions  and  supported 
totally  opposite  measures  as  to  the  questions  and  issues  of  those 
times,  and  whereas  it  is 'reasonable  to  assume  that  these  same 
men  still  entertain,  to  a  large  extent,  their  several  opinions, 
and  would,  if  in  like  circumstances,  support  again  substantially 
the  same  measures  ;  and  whereas  a  rational  toleration  among 
men  resolved  to  unite  in  a  present  common  purpose,  does  not 
require  a  surrender  in  any  particular  of  former  opinions,  or 
any  acknowledgment  of  error  as  to  measures  heretofore  sup 
ported  : 

"Resolved,  BY  THE  DEMOCRACY  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY, 

"1.  That  agreeing  to  disagree  in  all  respects  as  to  the  past, 
we  cordially  unite  upon  the  living  issues  of  the  day,  and 
hereby  invite  all  men  of  the  Republican  party  who  believe 
now  upon  present  issues  as  we  believe,  to  co-operate  fully  and 
actively  with  us  upon  the  basis  of  perfect  equality  with  every 
member  of  the  Democratic  party. 

"  2.  That  waiving  all  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  ex 
traordinary  means  by  which  they  were  brought  about,  we 
accept  the  natural  and  legitimate  results  of  the  war  so  far  as 
waged  for  its  ostensible  purpose  to  maintain  the  Union  and  tho 
Constitutional  rights  and  powers  of  the  Federal  Government, 
including  the  three  several  amendments  de  facto  to  the  Con- 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  439 

stitution  recently  declared  adopted,  as  a  settlement  in  fact  of 
all  the  issues  of  the  war,  and  acquiesce  in  the  same  as  no  longer 
issues  before  the  country. 

"  3.  That  thus  burying  out  of  sight  all  that  is  of  the  dead 
past,  namely,  the  right  of  secession,  slavery,  inequality  before 
the  law,  and  political  inequality ;  and  further,  now  that  recon 
struction  is  complete,  and  representation  within  the  Union  re 
stored  to  all  the  States,  waiving  all  question  as  to  the  means  by 
which  it  was  accomplished,  we  demand  that  the  vital  and  long 
established  rule  of  STRICT  CONSTRUCTION,  as  proclaimed  by  the 
Democratic  fathers,  accepted  by  the  statesmen  of  all  parties 
previous  to  the  war,  and  embodied  in  the  Tenth  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution,  be  vigorously  applied  now  to  the  Constitu 
tion  as  it  is,  including  the  three  recent  amendments  above  re 
ferred  to,  and  insist  that  these  amendments  shall  not  be  held 
to  have  in  any  respect  altered  or  modified  the  original  theory 
and  character  of  the  Federal  Government  as  designed  and 
taught  by  its  founders,  and  repeatedly  in  early  times,  in  later 
times,,  and  at  all  times,  affirmed  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States ;  but  only  to  have  enlarged  the  powers  delegated 
to  it,  and  to  that  extent,  and  no  more,  to  have  abridged  the  re 
served  rights  of  the  States ;  and  that  as  thus  construed  accord 
ing  to  these  ancient  and  well  established  rules,  the  Democratic 
party  pledges  itself  to  the  full,  faithful,  and  absolute  execution 
and  enforcement  of  the  Constitution  as  it  now  is,  so  as  to 
secure  equal  rights  to  all  persons  under  it,  without  distinction 
of  race,  color,  or  condition. 

"  4.  That  the  absolute  equality  of  each  and  every  State,  within 
the  Union,  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  and  that  no  department  of  that  Government  has  power  to 
expel  a  State  from  the  Union,  or  to  deprive  it,  under  any  pretext 
whatever,  of  its  equal  rights  therein,  including  especially  the 
right  of  full  and  complete  representation  in  Congress  and  in 
the  Electoral  colleges. 

"  5.  That  we  will  always  cherish  and  uphold  the  American 
system  of  State  and  Local  Self-Go vernment,  for  State  and 
local  purposes,  and  a  General  Government  for  general  purposes 
only ;  and  are  unalterably  opposed  to  all  attempts  at  centrali 
sation  and  consolidation  of  power  in  the  hands  of  the  General 
Government ;  and  the  more  especially  when  such  attempts  are 
in  the  form  of  usurpation  by  any  department  of  that  Govern- 


440  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

ment.  And  further,  that  we  adhere  firmly  to  the  principle  of 
maintaining  a  perfect  independence  between  the  co-ordinate 
departments  of  that  Government,  the  Legislative,  the  Execu 
tive,  and  the  Judicial ;  condemning  all  encroachments  by  one 
upon  the  functions  of  the  others. 

"  6.  That  outside  of  fundamental  law,  all  legislation  is  in 
its  nature  and  purposes  temporary,  and  subject  to  change,  mod 
ification,  or  repeal  at  the  will  of  a  majority  of  the  people,  ex 
pressed  through  the  law-making  power  ;  and  that  the  pretence 
that  any  Act  of  Congress,  not  executed  and  spent,  or  any  legis 
lative  policy  of  a  party,  is  an  absolute  finality,  is  totally  incon 
sistent  with  the  whole  theory  of  republican  government ;  and 
that  it  is  the  unquestionable  right  of  the  people  of  themselves 
and  through  their  representatives,  at  each  successive  election, 
and  in  each  successive  Congress,  to  judge  of  what  legislation  is 
necessary  and  proper  or  appropriate  to  carry  into  execution  or 
enforce  the  constitutional  powers,  rights,  and  duties  of  the 
Federal  Government. 

"  7.  That  as  an  instance  of  eminently  appropriate  legislation 
under  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  in  the  name  of  wisdom, 
justice  and  republican  government,  and  to  secure  universal  po 
litical  rights  and  equality  among  both  the  white  and  the  colored 
people  of  the  United  States,  to  the  end  that  we  may  have  peace 
at  last,  we  call  now,  as  well  on  behalf  of  the  North  as  of  the 
South,  upon  Congress  for  a  universal  amnesty. 

"  8.  That  we  are  in  favor  of  the  payment  of  the  public  debt 
at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  consistent  with  moderate 
taxation;  and  the  more  effectually  to  secure  and  hasten  the  pay 
ment,  we  demand  the  strictest  honesty  and  economy  in  every 
part  of  the  administration  of  the  Government. 

"  9.  That  we  are  in  favor  of  such  revenue  reform  as  will 
greatly  simplify  the  manner  of  and  reduce  the  number  of  of 
ficers  engaged  in  collecting  and  disbursing  revenue,  and  largely 
diminish  the  now  enormous  expense  to  the  Government  and 
annoyance  and  vexation  to  the  people  attending  the  same ;  and 
further,  will  make  the  burdens  of  taxation  equal,  uniform,  and 
just,  and  no  greater  than  the  necessities  of  the  Government 
economically  administered  shall  require. 

"  10.  That  we  are  in  favor  of  a  searching  and  adequate  re 
form  in  the  civil  service  of  the  Government  so  as  to  secure 
faithfulness,  honesty  and  efficiency  in  all  its  branches,  and  in 
every  officer  and  appointee  connected  with  it. 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  441 

"11.  That  we  are  in  favor  of  a  strictly  revenue  tariff  con 
formed  to  the  theory  and  principles  of  all  other  just  and  wise 
tax  laws. 

"  1 2.  That  all  taxation  ought  to  be  based  on  wealth  instead 
of  population ;  and  that  every  person  should  be  required  to 
contribute  to  the  support  of  the  Government  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  and  not  with  reference  to  the  character  of  his 
property. 

"  13.  That  specie  is  the  basis  of  all  sound  currency,  and  that 
true  policy  requires  as  speedy  a  return  to  that  basis  as  is  prac 
ticable  without  distress  to  the  debtor-class  of  the  people. 

"  14.  That  there  is  no  necessary  or  irrepressible  conflict 
between  labor  and  capital ;  that  without  capital  or  consolidated 
wealth  no  country  can  flourish ;  that  capital  is  ientitlecl  to  the 
just  and  equal  protection  of  the  laws,  and  that  aft  men,  whether 
acting  individually  or  in  a  corporate  capacity,  have  the  right  by 
fair  and  honest  means,  and  not  for  the  purposes  of  wrong  or 
oppression,  to  so  use  their  property  as  to  increase  and  consoli 
date  it  to  the  utmost  extent  within  their  power.  But  conceding 
all  this,  we  declare  our  cordial  sympathy  and  co-operation  with 
the  producers  and  working  men  of  the  country  who  make  and 
move  all  capital,  and  who  only  seek  by  just  and  necessary 
means  to  protect  themselves  against  the  oppressive  exactions  of 
capital,  and  to  ameliorate  their  condition  and  dignify  their 
calling. 

"15.  That  we  are  totally  and  resolutely  opposed  to  the 
grant  of  any  more  of  the  public  lands,  the  common  property 
of  the  people  of  the  States,  to  corporations  for  railroad  or  other 
purposes;  holding  that  these  lands  ought  to  be  devoted  as 
homesteads  to  actual  settlers,  or  sold  in  small  quantities  to  in 
dividuals  at  a  price  so  low  as  to  induce  speedy  occupation  and 
settlement. 

"16.  That,  holding  still  to  the  good  old  Democratic  doc 
trine  of  annexation  or  acquisition  of  territory,  we  are  yet 
totally  opposed  to  the  scheme  of  President  Grant  to  acquire 
San  Domingo  as  a  'job/  and  by  the  means  and  for  the  purposes 
evidently  intended,  and  accept  the  issue  he  has  tendered  in  his 
late  message  submitting  the  subject  to  the  decision  of  the 
people. 

"17.  That  the  Act  commonly  called  the  '  Bayonet  Bill/ 
recently  passed  by  Congress,  amendatory  to  the  Act  of  May 


442  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIQHAM. 

31,  1870,  and  a  supplement  to  the  Act  of  July  14,  1870,  each 
and  all  intended  and  so  contrived  as  to  interfere  with  and 
practically  subvert  free  popular  elections  in  all  the  States,  sub 
jecting  them  to  the  absolute  control,  through  the  military 
power  whenever  called  forth,  of  the  President  and  Comman 
der-in-chief  for  the  time  being  of  the  land  and  naval  forces  of 
the  United  States;  and  the  more  recent  Act  of  Congress 
commonly  called  the  '  Ku-Klux  Bill/  extending  by  its  terms 
to  every  State,  intermeddling  with  the  exclusively  local  concerns 
of  every  State,  authorising  the  President  upon  the  existence  of 
a  condition  of  things  to  be  ascertained  and  determined  by  him 
self  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  sole  judgment,  to  suspend  the 
writ  of  habeas,  corpus  in  time  of  peace,  and  to  march  the  stand 
ing  army  irito*any  State  and  declare  martial  law  therein  at  his 
own  mere  wil£  and  pleasure,  thus  subverting  the  entire  civil 
power,  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial,  of  such  State,  destroy 
ing  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  and  the  peaceable  assem 
bling  of  the  people,  and  subjecting  every  person  therein  to  mil 
itary  arrest,  trial  and  execution,  were  enacted  for  no  other  purpose 
than  to  complete  the  centralisation  of  all  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
General  Government,  establish  a  military  despotism,  and  thus 
perpetuate  the  present  Administration  without  regard  to  the 
will  of  the  people,  and  are  not  only  utterly  inconsistent  with  the 
whole  theory  and  character  of  the  Federal  Government  and  revo 
lutionary  and  dangerous  in  their  nature,  but  in  direct  conflict 
with  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  Constitution,  including  the 
amendments  which  they  pretend  to  enforce. 

"18.  That  the  Radical  party  of  1871  as  now  constituted  is 
not  the  Republican  party  of  the  period  previous  to  the  war, 
nor  the  so-called  '  Union  party '  during  the  war,  and  is  in  no 
respect  entitled  to  beg  the  public  confidence  as  such ;  that  it  is 
now  only  an  'Administration y  or  '  Grant  party/  dating  back  to 
March  4,  1869,  and  to  be  judged  by  its  record  since;  and  that 
upon  that  record,  totally  hostile  to  the  doctrines  and  policies 
herein  maintained,  and  wholly  committed  to  the  policies  and 
doctrines  herein  denounced,  it  deserves  the  emphatic  condem 
nation  of  the  people." 

In  reporting  the  resolutions  from  the  committee,  Mr.  Yal- 
landigham  said : — 

"These    resolutions,    Mr.   President,    sufficiently    explain 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  443 

themselves.  The  principles  and  policies  which  they  enunciate 
require  the  honest  censure  of  those  only  whose  hostility  is 
sincere.  Carping  criticism  we  both  expect  and  contemn. 

"For  more  than  two  years  past  the  bitter  and  bloody 
passions  of  the  war  have  been  gradually,  but  steadily  and  surely 
dying  out.  Continual  and  irreconcileable  dissent  upon  the 
new  issues  necessarily  born  of  to-day,  and  even  bitter  personal 
discord  among  men  of  the  Kepublican  party  who  had  stood 
together  on  the  questions  of  the  past,  inevitably  followed.  The 
Democratic  party  wisely  remained  silent,  or  confined  itself  to 
these  new  issues.  The  Republican  party  having  fulfilled  its 
original  mission,  was  rapidly  falling  into  decay.  Moderation, 
justice  and  peace  were  becoming  to  its  more  violent  leaders  the 
sentence  of  death ;  the  Administration  party,  into  which  since 
the  4th  of  March,  1869,  it  has  been  wholly  transferred,  had 
begun  from  causes  thoroughly  understood  to  be  odious  and 
even  intolerable  to  the  people.  Upon  the  issues  of  amnesty ; 
of  honesty  in  the  legislative  and  executive  departments ;  of  the 
tariff;  of  revenue  and  civil  service  reform  ;  of  land  grants  to 
corporations ;  the  currency ;  taxation ;  San  Domingo,  and  other 
similar  questions,  it  was  certain  to  be  condemned.  Necessity 
required  that  some  decisive  movement  should  be  made  to  avert 
impending  defeat.  Not  the  statesmen,  but  the  mere  politicians, 
the  sycophants  of  the  party,  the  parasites  clinging  to  and  deriv 
ing  nurture  solely  from  Executive  favor,  were  called  into  coun 
cil.  These  Bourbons  of  the  present  hour,  the  men  who  forget 
nothing,  learn  nothing,  resolved  upon  one  more  appeal  to  the 
expiring  passions  and  prejudices  of  their  partisans  —  the  war 
cries  of  the  past.  If  civil  war  in  fact  could  not  again  be  inau 
gurated,  civil  war  in  form,  with  all  its  legislative  and  executive 
machinery,  and  all  its  political  appliances,  must  be  revived  in 
every  State :  to  secure  first,  the  re-nomination,  and  next,  the 
re-election  of  General  Grant.  The  belligerent  pronunciamento 
went  forth;  the  bloody  blast  of  the  war  bugle  was  again 
sounded.  A  distinguished  Senator,  the  confidential  adviser 
and  main  support  of  the  President,  himself  a  consummate  par 
tisan  leader,  but  powerful  in  proportion  to  the  unskilfulness 
and  cowardice  of  his  foes,  was  put  forth  as  the  chief  fomentor 
of  this  new  crusade.  But  I  say  to  him  and  to  all  behind  him, 
that  the  hour  has  now  come  when  neither  he  nor  they  can  be 
permitted  to  provoke  or  to  dictate  issues  for  the  Democratic 


444  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

party,  or  to  ignore  those  which  the  revolving  years  and  chang 
ing  condition  of  the  country  necessarily  bring  forth.  That 
which  since  1868  has  been  but  a  question  of  time,  is  now  upon 
us.  The  auspicious  moment,  the  golden  opportunity,  '  the  tide 
in  the  affairs  of  men  to  be  taken  at  the  flood/  has  now,  in  my 
deliberate  judgment,  reached  us,  when  the  Democratic  party 
of  to-day,  laying  aside  every  weight,  and  shaking  from  it  the 
dead  body  of  the  past,  yet  adhering  to  its  ancient  principles, 
can  and  must  at  one  bound  place  itself  upon  the  vantage 
ground  of  the  present,  and  defy  its  enemies  to  battle  upon  the 
living  issues  of  the  hour.  It  is  the  purpose  of  these  resolutions 
to  establish  the  Democratic  party  of  Montgomery  County  openly 
and  squarely  upon  this  firm  and  impregnable  basis.  Tacitly 
and  in  fact  we  have  stood  upon  it  for  the  past  two  years,  and 
victory  has  steadily  been  ours.  Confident  I  am  that  we  shall 
meet  a  prompt  and  very  cordial  response  from  our  brethren 
elsewhere  and  everywhere,  in  this  and  other  States.  Person 
ally  I  care  not  for  denunciation  or  unjust  criticism  from,  any 
quarter.  Upon  fullest  deliberation  and  ample  counsel  with 
wise  and  brave  men  of  the  party,  I  take  the  responsibility. 
With  pride  and  pleasure  I  add,  too,  that  as  these  resolutions  are 
the  fruit  of  the  joint  labors  and  counsels  of  the  gentlemen 
associated  with  me  here  at  home,  so  also  this  movement  meets 
their  hearty  concurrence.  It  is  not  a  New  Departure,  but  a 
Return  ;  the  restoration  of  the  Democratic  party  once  more  to 
the  ancient  platform  of  Progress  and  Reform  ;  establishing  the 
great  fact  that  that  party,  like  everything  else  in  nature  in 
tended  to -endure,  is  capable  of  adapting  itself  to  the  perpetual 
growth  and  change  which  belong  alike  to  the  political  and 
the  physical  world,  and  retain  yet  intact  the  original  principles 
and  laws  of  its  being.  Moreover,  as  to  the  movement  here,  we 
all  bear  witness  that  in  it  there  is  nothing  of  a  merely  personal 
character,  either  to  advance  or  to  hinder  any  member  of  the 
Democratic  party  anywhere  —  nothing  except  the  earnest  and 
fixed  purpose  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  whole  party,  and 
with  it,  of  the  whole  country." 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted,  and  the  Con 
vention  adjourned. 

Such  was  the  inauguration  of  the  New  Departure.     The 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  445 

resolutions  together  with  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Houk,  the 
President  of  the  meeting,  and  Mr.  Yallandigham,  the  chair 
man  of  the  Committee,  sufficiently  indicate  the  spirit  and  the 
purpose  of  the  movement.  In  further  explanation  we  give 
the  following  editorial  from  the  Dayton  Ledger.  Commenting 
on  the  action  of  the  Convention,  the  editor  says  :  — 

"  As  a  part  of  the  history  of  these  resolutions,  we  consider 
it  necessary  to  state  that  they  were  drafted  by  Mr.  Yallandig- 
ham,  after  much  deliberation,  and  a  full  and  free  consultation 
with  leading  Democrats,  both  here  and  in  other  quarters  of  the 
State.  Their  reception,  both  in  the  committee  room  and  the 
Convention,  was  unanimous  and  enthusiastic,  scarcely  a  verbal 
alteration  even  being  made  after  the  fullest  discussion  and 
most  acute  criticism.  Such  a  fact  alone  is  deeply  significant, 
for  it  shows  the  tendency  of  the  minds  of  men  to  harmonise 
and  concentrate  upon  the  real  living  issues,  and  how  truthfully 
Mr.  Yallandighain  has  embodied  and  expressed  in  the  resolu 
tions  the  sentiments  which  have  hitherto  being  gathering  force 
among  men  of  all  parties,  viz :  that  the  Republican  party 
having  accomplished  its  mission,  is  now  a  failure  in  govern 
ment,  and  that  something  must  be  conceded  by  the  Democratic 
party  to  its  dissatisfied  elements  in  order  to  secure  their  co 
operation  in  restoring  the  country  to  real  peace  and  prosperity. 
We  repeat  that  such  an  act  of  magnanimity  was  worthy  of  the 
traditions  and  history  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  from  no 
man  could  the  movement  more  appropriately  emanate  than 
from  Mr.  Yallandigham,  whose  devotion  to  the  organization 
and  to  the  interests  of  the  country  through  it  has  been  attested 
by  a  thousand  sacrifices." 

This  new  movement  was  cordially  and  enthusiastically 
endorsed  by  many  leading  Democratic  papers  in  all  parts  of 
the  Union.  The  State  Convention  of  Ohio  which  met  on  the 
first  of  June,  adopted  substantially  the  Dayton  resolutions. 
The  same  was  the  case  with  conventions  in  several  other  States. 
"With  the  conservative  press,  and  with  conservative  men  who 


446     LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

had  for  years  acted  with  the  Republican  party,  the  movement 
met  with  much  favor.  Two  days  after  the  Montgomery  County 
meeting,  Chief-Justice  Chase  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Mr. 
Vallandigham : — 

"  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  20. 

"My  Dear  Sir: — I  have  just  read  the  resolutions  of  the 
Montgomery  County  (Ohio)  Democratic  Convention,  reported 
by  yourself,  together  with  your  remarks  and  those  of  Mr. 
Houk.  You  have  rendered  great  service  to  your  country  and 
the  party;  at  least,  such  is  my  judgment.  May  God  bless  you 
for  it.  Nothing  can  be  truer  than  your  declaration  that  the 
movement  contemplated  by  the  resolutions  is  the  restoration 
of  the  Democratic  party  to  its  ancient  platform  of  progress 
and  reform.  I  know  you  too  well  to  doubt  your  courage  or 
your  fidelity  to  your  conclusions. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Hon.  C.  L.  Yallandigkam." 

The  following  extracts  show  the  manner  in  which  the  move 
ment  was  received  by  the  Conservative  and  some  of  the  Demo 
cratic  press : — 

From  the  New  York  Sun  (Independent  Republican),  20th: — 

"The  hour  has  struck,  and  the  man  has  arrived.  Mr. 
Clement  L.  Vallandigham  has  sounded  a  trumpet  that  will 
reverberate  through  the  land.  .  .  . 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  is  a  progressive  statesman  and  a  wary 
politician.  He  has  just  exemplified  both  these  qualities  by 
constructing  a  platform  for  the  Democracy  which  is  precisely 
adapted  to  the  new  epoch.  Without  raising  controversies  about 
how  we  got  into  the  war  or  how  we  got  out  of  it,  he  accepts 
its  results  as  fixed  facts,  and  daes  not  look  backward,  but  turns 
his  eye  toward  the  future.  Not  stopping  to  criticise  the  wis 
dom  of  every  phase  of  the  reconstruction  measures,  or  quibble 
over  the  mode  whereby  the  three  amendments  were  engrafted 
upon  the  Constitution,  he  takes  them  as  valid  portions  of  that 
instrument,  and  treats  them  as  a  final  and  irrevocable  settlement 
of  the  matters  to  which  they  relate.  He  then  falls  back  upon 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  447 

the  Constitution  as  it  is,  and  insists  that  it  shall  be  accepted  in 
its  entirety,  including  all  its  modern  improvements,  and  shall 
hereafter  be  construed  and  enforced  according  to  the  funda 
mental  doctrines  enunciated  by  such  eminent  exponents  of  the 
Democratic  creed  as  Jefferson,  Jackson,  Benton,  and  Wright, 
who  would  maintain  all  the  powers  of  the  National  Govern 
ment  without  impairing  the  rights  of  the  several  States. 

"  Having  thus  disposed  of  constitutional  questions,  Mr. 
Vallandigham.  foreshadows  a  comprehensive  policy  in  respect 
to  the  living  issues  of  the  day,  such  as  general  amnesty,  tax 
ation,  the  tariff,  retrenchment,  civil  service  reform,  San  Do 
mingo  annexation,  Ku-Klux  legislation,  and  the  like,  hitting 
a  happy  medium  between  the  extremes  on  all  these  vexed  mat 
ters;  and  he  winds  up  by  inviting  the  people  of  all  parties, 
localities,  colors,  and  creeds  to  come  upon  his  platform  as 
equals,  and  to  rally  around  the  banner  of  the  Union  and  help 
to  fight  the  great  battles  of  the  future.  This  programme  and 
the  speech  in  which  he  explained  and  defended  it,  and  the 
unanimity  with  which  it  was  ratified  by  the  assembled  Demo 
cracy  of  Montgomery,  place  Mr.  Vallandigham.  among  the  most 
conspicuous  political  leaders  of  the  day." 

From  the  New  York  Herald,  21st : — 

"  Vallandigham  is  the  Phil  Sheridan  of  his  party,  and  has 
sent  the  old  Democratic  leaders  whirling  in  every  direction. 
His  platform,  enunciated  at  the  Dayton  Convention,  meets  with 
general  favor,  despite  the  opposition  of  the  timid,  badly  scared 
Bourbons.  The  executive  committee  of  Hamilton  County, 
Ohio,  yesterday  unanimously  and  cordially  endorsed  Vallan- 
digham's  views,  and  they  will  also  be  readily  adopted  by  the 
party  throughout  the  State." 

From  the  Philadelphia  Evening  Herald: — 

"  The  Ohio  Democracy  in  State  Convention  assembled,  with 
Hon.  Geo.  H.  Pendleton  as  chairman,  yesterday  fully  endorsed 
the  Vallandigham  resolutions,  and  thus  laid  another  stone  on 
the  broad  foundation  upon  which  the  structure  of  coming  Dem 
ocratic  success  is  to  be  built.  The  work  goes  bravely  on;  and 
we  may  confidently  expect  that  in  a  little  while  the  Democrats 


448  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  • 

in  every  State  in  the  Union,  forgetting  past  differences,  will 
place  themselves  fairly  and  squarely  upon  the  same  strong 
platform." 

From  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal : — 

"  In  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said  agains.t  the  platform  pro 
posed  by  Mr.  Vallandigham,  it  was  adopted.  Ohio  places 
herself  alongside  of  Pennsylvania ;  other  States  will  follow, 
and  long  before  the  campaign  of  next  year  the  anti-Radical 
column  will  be  united  on  a  broad  and  sound  basis  of  rational 
Democracy.  It  will  be  quite  idle  for  malcontents  and  imprac- 
ticables  to  read  the  Democracy  of  the  entire  country  out  of  the 
Democratic  party.  That  won't  go,  and,  besides,  there  are  too 
many  of  them  to  make  a  departure  in  that  direction  a  desirable 
object.  Indiana  has  already  expressed  with  sufficient  emphasis. 
Nothing  can  now  stay  the  tide  of  conservatism,  and  which  will 
be  ample  enough  and  generous  enough  to  embrace  all  the  liberal 
elements  of  the  North  and  South.  Ohio  has  done  admirably. 
All  honor  to  Clement  L.  Vallandigham." 

From  the  Cleveland  Plaindealer : — 

"  The  Republican  newspapers  of  Ohio  are  most  thoroughly 
dissatisfied  with  the  Democratic  platform.  While  it  makes  no 
apology  for  the  position  the  Democratic  party  has  held  in  the 
past,  it  recognises  the  situation,  accepts  facts  that  are  accom 
plished,  refuses  to  play  heads  and  tails  on  the  grave  of  issues 
that  were  live  ones  only  in  '62,  '63,  '64  and  '65 ;  it  refuses  to 
allow  the  Republican  party  to  put  a  ring-fence  around  us  and 
keep  us  dancing  to  the  same  old  tunes  and  rattling  the  same 
old  bones.  The  vital  principle  of  progress  has  been  resurrected 
in  our  organization,  and,  having  outflanked  its  enemies  by 
marching  past  the  pits  they  had  spread  for  it,  it  has  opened  its 
guns  from  an  advanced  position,  and  pierced  the  enemy's 
centre.  Inspired  with  renewed  hope,  and  strengthened  as  it 
will  be  by  many  thousands  who,  in  the  past,  have  deserted  us, 
the  onward  march  of  the  Democracv  will  be  irresistible." 

But  although  this  movement  was  received  with  favor  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  was  hailed  as  the  harbinger  of  better 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.     VALLANDIGHAM.  449 

days,  it  also  encountered  a  violent  opposition.  Many  Demo 
crats  regarded  it  as  a  surrender  of  principle.  Not  so  was  it 
considered  by  Mr.  Vallandigham  and  those  who  acted  with 
him.  They  adhered  as  strictly  as  ever  to  all  the  great  prin 
ciples  of  the  Democratic  party  which  they  had  always  professed 
and  maintained.  They  believed,  just  as  every  intelligent  man 
in  the  country  believes,  that  the  amendments  to  the  Constitu 
tion  in  question  were  secured  by  force  and  fraud ;  that  the 
people  of  the  Southern  States  if  left  to  themselves,  allowed 
to  act  freely,  to  vote  as  they  pleased,  would  never  have  con 
sented  to  their  adoption.  But  these  amendments  had  been 
proclaimed  by  those  in  authority,  parts  of  the  Constitution ; 
they  had  gone  into  operation,  had  been  acquiesced  in;  op 
position  to  them  on  the  part  of  the  Democracy,  contention 
about  them,  would  be  vain  and  useless :  why  then  waste  time 
and  strength  in  a  fruitless  enterprise  ?  Such  were  the  views  of 
the  men  who  inaugurated  the  New  Departure :  they  wished  to 
bury  the  dead  issues  of  the  past,  and  fight  on  the  living  issues 
of  the  present.  This  they  considered  their  only  hope  of  success 
in  the  approaching  campaign  of  1872. 

There  were  some  who  were  inclined  to  impugn  the  motives 
of  Mr.  Vallandigham  in  this  matter;  but  for  this  there  was 
no  just  ground.  By  what  selfish  motive  could  he  have  been 
actuated?  He  was  not  seeking  popularity:  this  he  never  aimed 
at  in  his  life ;  and  besides,  he  knew  that  by  this  movement  he 
would  lose  as  many  friends  as  he  would  gain.  He  knew  that 
it  would  be  violently  opposed,  and  was  girding  on  his  armor 
for  a  bold  and  determined  conflict.  Nor  was  he  influenced  by 
u  desire  to  advance  the  claims  or  the  interests  of  one  sot  of 
politicians  in  opposition  to  those  of  another;  this  he  distinctly 
29 


450  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

disavowed.  In  this  whole  matter  we  are  satisfied  that  his 
motives  were  pure  and  unselfish.  He  was  actuated  by  an 
earnest  desire  to  secure  the  success  of  the  Democratic  party, 
and  through  it  to  advance  the  best  interests  of  the  country. 
And  whatever  may  be  the  ultimate  effect  of  this  New  De 
parture,  which  time  has  yet  to  determine,  it  is  certain  that  he 
indulged  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  a  highly  favor 
able  result.  This  is  evident  from  the  following  extracts  from 
the  last  political  speech  he  ever  made,  delivered  on  the  night  of 
the  1st  of  June  1871,  past  the  midnight  hour,  at  the  close  of 
the  State  Convention  that  had  on  that  day  adopted,  at  least 
substantially,  the  resolutions  that  he  had  drafted  and  presented 
at  the  Dayton  meeting : — > 

"To-day  we  have  achieved  a  glorious  triumph;  to-day 
we  have  sent  forth  tidings  of  great  joy  all  over  the  land.  The 
Democratic  party  stands  now  upon  the  vantage  ground  of  the 
present  and  offers  battle  to  its  enemies ;  and  hand  to  hand  and 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  marches  forth  and  meets  them  in  this 
struggle  upon  the  living  issues  of  the  present  hour  [cheers] ; 
and  upon  these  issues  we  will  triumph.  Throughout  the 
entire  State  of  Ohio  will  come  a  response,  and  not  from  Ohio 
only,  but  from  other  States,  from  one  end  of  the  country  to 
the  other,  full  of  joy  and  rejoicing,  to-morrow,  from  the  At 
lantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
that  at  last  the  Democratic  party  is  ready  to  grapple  with 
its  foes  and  to  crush  them,  as  in  former  times  it  did;  and  that 
•once  more  there  is  hope  that  this  old,  battle-worn  Republic 
of  ours,  bearing,  it  may  be,  the  scars  which  it  has  received 
in  the  recent  grand  convulsion,  will  yet  live,  and  live  in  the 
spirit  in  which  the  fathers  framed  it.  [Applause.]  .... 

"  I  rejoice  that  the  veterans  of  the  party,  the  ( subterraneans ' 
of  the  olden  time,  are  here  in  such  great  numbers,  and  with 
hearts  resolved  to  conquer.  For  years  we  have  fought  the 
enemy  from  behind  the  now  battered  and  crumbling  earth 
works  of  former  issues,  surrounded  and  hampered  by  the  rub 
bish  and  the  skeleton  corpses  of  the  dead  past.  For  one;  I  am 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  451 

wearied  of  such  fighting.  Give  us  now  and  henceforth  the 
clear,  open  field,  where  face  to  face  and  hand  to  hand,  and 
with  banners  inscribed  '  Progress  and  Reform/  we  may  give 
battle  to  the  enemies  of  Democratic-Republican  Government. 
I  rejoice  still  more,  Mr.  President,  to  see  here  among  us  the 
advancing  hosts  of  the  Young  Democracy,  with  hearts  full 
of  fire  and  hands  full  of  strength,  and  hopes  buoyant  with  life 
and  light  as  they  look  forward  to  the  future.  They  are 
resolved  to  live  and  move  in  the  present.  It  is  a  wise  saying: 
Old  men  for  counsel  —  provided  they  be  not  old  fogies 
[a  laugh]  —  young  men  for  action.  The  young  men  of  the 
party  will  win  for  us  the  victory." 

Mr.  Vallandigham  closed  as  follows : — 

"  That  grand  system  of  government  under  which  it  is  my 
firm  belief  that  we  can  unite  the  whole  continent  of  North 
America,  yea,  and  the  whole  world ;  that  system  which  was 
organised  in  1789,  is,  in  its  original  conception  and  its  original 
practice,  sufficient  for  the  entire  globe,  and  now  that  we  have 
railroads  and  telegraphs,  means  of  communication  that  did  not 
exist  in  former  times,  that  system  can  prevail  over  the  world, 
under  the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  is  an  es 
sential  offshoot  of  that  form  of  government,  and  which,  born 
with  it,  can  only  die  with  it. 

"And,  in  my  deliberate  judgment,  if  we  can  but  sustain 
these  institutions  of  ours,  if  in  spite  of  these  amendments, 
which  in  the  language  of  your  platform  delegate  only  so  much 
more  power  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  only  to  that  ex 
tent  abridge  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States,  and  do  not  in 
any  respect  alter  or  modify  the  original  character  and  theory  of 
the  Federal  Government,  we  can  restore  again  the  doctrines  and 
rules  of  construction  and  the  practices  of  the  fathers  with  equal 
rights  made  secure  to  all,  the  youngest  man  in  this  assembly, 
nay,  the  infant  born  to-day,  who  shall  live  beyond  his  three 
score  and  ten,  even  by  reason  of  strength  to  four-score,  will 
see  this  grand  Old  Republic  of  ours  overspread  the  whole  of 
this  mighty  continent,  and  that  flag  of  ours  which  we  do  love 
and  cherish,  afloat  in  every  breeze  and  triumphant  upon  every 
sea.  [Loud  applause.]" 


CHAPTEK  XIX. 

HABITS    OF    STUDY    AND    MENTAL    DISCIPLINE. 

FROM  his  earliest  years  Mr.  "Vallandigham  was  a  close  and 
diligent  student.  When  only  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age,  as 
we  have  already  stated,  he  was  accustomed  frequently  to  spend 
ten  or  twelve  hours  a  day  in  study,  and  this  too  when  he 
was  not  at  school  or  under  any  compulsion  to  study  at  all.  At 
that  same  period  he  was  accustomed  to  shut  himself  up  in  his 
room,  and  in  a  rather  low  voice,  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  family 
or  attract  attention,  to  declaim  or  to  deliver  extemporaneous 
harangues,  in  order  to  acquire  readiness  and  fluency  in  speak 
ing.  A  similar  course  he  pursued  .when  at  college,  as  we  learn 
from  his  friend  and  companion,  the  Hon.  Sherrard  Clemens. 
Mr.  Clemens  says : — 

"  His  studies  were  varied,  extensive,  and  exhaustive.  Mil 
ton's  Paradise  Lost  and  Burke's  speeches  and  works  seem  to 
have  been  his  great  favorites.  He  adopted  a  severe  course  of 
intellectual  training,  read  much  aloud,  and  was  in  the  habit, 
after  reading  the  speeches  of  some  celebrated  orator,  to  seek 
some  secluded  place  and  declaim  them  over  in  his  own  language, 
after  having  the  subject-matter  fully  fixed  in  his  mind.  He 
was  in  the  habit  of  doing  a  similar  thing  after  reading  some 
favorite  author,  as,  for  instance,  Gibbon's  History  'of  Rome,  to 
reduce  the  thoughts  to  his  own  language.  By  this  mode  of 
severe  mental  gymnastics,  he  attained  very  great  facility  both 
in  speaking  and  writing.  As  a  speaker  he  was  graceful,  fluent, 
forcible  and  impulsive,  rising  oftentimes  to  first-class  oratory : 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  453 

as  a  writer  he  exhibited  many  of  the  same  characteristics.  At 
college  the  Bible  was  his  great  stand-by.  Every  Sunday  was 
devoted  to  a  critical  examination  of  it.  He  seemed  to  be  never 
weary  of  pointing  out  the  beauties  of  Proverbs,  the  Book  of 
Job,  Isaiah,  the  Song  of  Solomon,  Jeremiah,  and  the  Psalms 
of  David.  Proverbs  and  Ecclesiastes,  he  contended,  combined 
more  worldly  wisdom  than  could  be  found  anywhere  else,  and 
if  a  father  could  only  induce  his  child  to  act  upon  them,  he 
would  secure  him  a  more  precious  legacy  than  he  could  in  any 
other  way.  He  contrasted  them  with  Lord  Chesterfield  s 
letters  to  his  son  and  the  maxims  of  the  Duke  de  la  Roche 
foucauld,  and  showed  how  inferior  they  (the  latter)  were  in 
interest,  beauty  and  practical  efficacy." 

Mr.  Clemens  proceeds  to  quote  a  great  number  of  passages 
which  were  particular  favorites  of  Mr.  Yallandigham,  and 
which  he  was  accustomed  very  frequently  to  repeat.  Among 
them  are  the  following :  "  Let  thine  eyes  look  right  on,  and  let 
thine  eyelids  look  straight  before  thee."  "  He  becometh  poor 
that  dealeth  with  a  slack  hand,  but  the  hand  of  the  diligent 
maketh  rich."  "  The  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness,  and 
a  stranger  doth  not  intermeddle  with  his  joy."  "A  soft  answer 
turneth  away  wrath."  "  He  that  is  slow  to  anger  is  better  than 
the  mighty,  and  he  that  ruleth  his  spirit  than  he  that  taketh  a 
city."  "  If  thou  faint  in  the  day  of  adversity,  thy  strength  is 
small."  "A  just  man  falleth  seven  times  and  riseth  up  again." 
"A  good  name  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great  riches,  and 
loving  favor  rather  than  silver  and  gold."  The  description  of 
a  virtuous  woman  from  the  last  chapter  of  Proverbs  was  often 
repeated,  as  was  also  the  description  of  the  vanity  of  human 
pursuits  in  the  second  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes.  Mr.  Clemens 
further  says: — 

"  In  our  walks  around  the  woods  of  Canonsburg,  we  would 
read  or  declaim  to  each  other  from  Shakspeare,  Milton,  Byron's 


454  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

Cain  and  Manfred,  Burke,  Erskine,  or  other  favorite  authors, 
Antony's  speech  over  the  dead  body  of  Csesar,  the  quarrel 
between  Brutus  and  Cassius,  Queen  Catharine's  speech  on  her 
trial,  including  the  celebrated  passage, '  Here  sits  a  judge  whom 
no  king  can  corrupt/  Particular  portions  of  Timon  of  Athens, 
fearful  in  their  denunciatory  power,  he  dwelt  upon  with  great 
unction  and  the  most  exquisite  delight.  At  this  early  period 
his  mind  had  taken  a  decidedly  political  bias,  and  his  extracts 
from  Burke,  Pitt,  Fox,  Sheridan,  Erskine,  Chatham,  and  other 
prominent  orators,  were  often  rendered  with  great  effect.  Of 
Americans,  Calhoun  stood  first  in  his  estimation,  though  his 
arguments  were  so  logical  he  did  not  often  recite  them ;  but 
passages  from  Webster  he  delighted  in,  and  in  point  of  intellect 
he  was  next  to  Calhoun." 


A  few  extracts  from  some  of  his  letters  will  exhibit  his 
course  of  reading  and  study  in  later  years.  In  a  letter  to  his 
brother  James,  Feb.  14,  1849,  he  says: — 

"  Since  the  Presidential  election  I  have  been  studying  and 
reading  closely.  I  have  been  reviewing  the  elementary  works 
on  law,  reading  the  classics,  and  particularly  refreshing  my 
knowledge  of  Greek,  which  has  always  been  imperfect.  I  be 
gan  with  the  grammar  and  am  going  through  the  course ;  but 
my  main  object  is  to  be  able  to  read  Demosthenes  readily  in  the 
original:  the  translations  I  devoured  long  since.  Besides 
this,  my  miscellaneous  reading  (including  the  literary  and  law 
periodicals  and  reviews)  has  been  not  a  little.  I  took  also 
a  pretty  deep  dip  into  old  Chaucer,  and  found  ( somethink  '•  very 
new  and  interesting  in  his  antique  and  crooked-looking  poetry. 
So  you. see  I  have  been  '  redeeming  the  time/  in  a  secular  way 
at  least.  But  I  am  also  still,  as  ever,  a  close  student  of  the 
BIBLE  ;  without  an  intimate  and  constant  study  of  which  no 
man's  education  can  be  finished  and  no  man's  character  can  be 
complete." 

To  the  same,  July  19,  1851  :— 

"  Among  the  books  which  I  have  read  during  the  spring 
and  winter,  have  been  three  of  especial  interest  —  The  Life  of 
Dr.  Chalmers,  Sydney  Smith's  Sketches  of  Moral  Philosophy, 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGKEAM.  455 

and  Garland's  Life  of  John  Randolph  —  especially  the  second 
volume.  I  never  appreciated  Chalmers  before  at  his  true 
value :  he  was  a  wonderful  man  —  I  think  the  greatest  pulpit 
orator  and  the  greatest  man  of  his  calling  since  Paul :  in  an 
age  of  great  men,  he  was  among  the  very  greatest." 

To  the  same,  December  6,  1855 : — 

"  I  have  here  that  great  desideratum,  a  study,  very  neat 
and  cosy,  and  full  of  all  my  usual  l  contraptions/  Here  I  spend 
my  evenings.  It  is  my  chapel  too.  The  day-time  is  devoted 
to  the  office  and  court.  I  spend  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
dollars  a  year  for  books  — '  books  that  are  books/  My  taste 
and  course  of  study  you  may  infer  from  a  catalogue  of  the 
books  in  my  library  here  at  the  house.  I  have  many  at  the 
office  also,  professional  and  miscellaneous." 

Here  follows  a  long  list,  filling  a  whole  sheet,  of  choice 
books ;  at  the  close  of  which  he  says :  "  These  are  all  (or  nearly 
all)  good  library  editions  —  good  paper  and  type,  and  well 
bound.  I  buy  no  fine-print  books,  and  none  of  only  casual  or 
temporary  value." 

To  the  same  he  writes,  April  16,  1856,  a  letter  in  which  he 
speaks  of  himself  and  his  affairs  —  Politically,  Profession 
ally,  Domestically,  Personally,  and  Theologically.  Under 
the  Theological  head  he  says : — 

"  Besides  the  continual  study  of  the  Bible,  I  am  now  read 
ing  Mosheim's  Church  History,  Milton's  Theological  Treatise, 
and  Barrow's  Sermons.  These  last  I  think  are  the  finest  and 
most  valuable  every  way  in  our  language.  Dealing  little  in 
the  metaphysics  or  mystics  of  theology,  Barrow  treats  of 
religion  not  as  a  head  for  disputation,  a  subject  for  tortuous 
and  torturing  disquisition  and  dissection,  but  as  a  thing  to  be 
lived  out  in  our  daily  walk  and  conversation  —  something  real, 
palpable,  and  for  use.  This  is  what  he  wants  whose  earnest 
desire,  as  mine,  is  to  ( live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this 
present  world,  redeeming  the  time,  diligent  in  business,  fervent 


456  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord,  and  so  using  the  things  of  the 
World  as  not  abusing  them,  remembering  that  the  fashion 
thereof  passeth  away.' " 

It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  read  and  studied  not 
only  law  and  the  classics  and  history,  but  also  theology.  He 
supplied  himself  with  an  excellent  system  of  theology,  one 
of  the  best  published,  and  carefully  studied  it ;  and  his  know 
ledge  of  theology  as  well  as  of  Church  History  was  superior 
to  that  of  many  a  minister  of  the  Gospel. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  in  the  Cincinnati 
Commercial,  "  written,"  says  the  editor,  "  by  an  intimate  friend" 
of  Mr.  Vallandigham : — 

"  I  came  to  Dayton  to  study  law  with  Mr.  Vallaudigham 
in  the  beginning  of  1851,  and  lived  in  his  house  from  that 
time  almost  continuously  until  1860.  I  was  his  partner  from 
November  1854,  until  he  withdrew  from  practice,  about  1859. 
I  can  speak  more  certainly  as  to  this  period  of  time  than  any 
other. 

"Being  myself  a  graduate  of  the  Jesuits,  with  whom  hard 
study  is  always  the  order  of  the  day,  I  was  qualified  to  judge 
of  Mr.  Vallandigham 's  application.  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  I  never  knew  a  person  whose  .study  was  more 
systematic,  unremitting  and  enduring.  At  times  it  was  painful 
to  me.  I  often  thought  to  myself,  ( Is  this  the  life  of  a  man 
who  seeks  reputation  ?  If  so,  is  the  game  worth  the  candle  ? ' 
He  studied  Sundays  as  well  as  week  days,  but  his  Sunday 
reading  was  Jeremy  Taylor,  Chalmers,  Mosheim,  Lowth,  the 
Bible,  Barrow,  Cicero's  Offices,  &c.  He  was  not  an  early  riser 
in  my  day,  but  he  worked  hard  at  night.  His  chief  study  was 
statesmanship ;  everything  tended  to  his  improvement  in  that 
direction.  This  involved  the  close  study  of  language  and  of 
the  graces  of  oratory.  The  first  book  he  put  into  my  hands 
was  Bronson's  Elocution.  In  early  days  he  practised  from  it 
frequently,  hence  his  distinct  enunciation.  But  language  he 
deemed  the  weapon  of  the  orator,  and  he  understood  the  shades 
of  meaning  of  words  very  well. 


LIFE    OF  CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  457 

"  His  library  is  not  large.  His  means,  in  a  great  portion 
of  his  life,  were  limited ;  his  political  contests  involved  the 
neglect  of  his  practice.  But  his  library  is  very  select.  Burke, 
I  think,  was  his  favorite  author.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a 
book  in  his  library  that  is  not  marked  (on  the  margins)  from 
one  end  to  the  other  —  many  of  them  being  re-read  frequently. 

"He  was  not  much  of  a  novel-reader,  beyond  the  select 
authors.  He  knew  the  "Waverley  novels  by  heart,  and  took 
great  pleasure  in  some  of  Cooper's.  But  he  read  too  slowly  to 
be  able  to  read  many.  I  think  he  would  be  two  months  at 
one  book ;  I  would  finish  the  same  book  in  a  day. 

"  He  was  not,  I  think,  in  the  last  few  years  as  close  or 
constant  a  reader  or  student  as  he  had  been.  It  would  have 
been  strange  if  he  had  been.  It  was  not  necessary ;  his  mind 
was  already  stored. 

"His  favorite  reading  was  history  and  biography.  He 
loved  to  read  how  other  men  <5imbed  the  ladder  he  was  on. 
Plutarch's  Lives  was  another  great  book  with  him,  and  Livy  he 
prized  beyond  measure.  He  called  his  books  'his  brave 
utensils/  as  Caliban  says  Prospero  called  his.  I  have  often 
seen  him  stand  before  his  library  and  strike  his  hands  together 
with  an  expression  of  delight  in  his  countenance  as  he  would 
exclaim,  '  My  brave  utensils ! '  I  think  he  knew  Shakspeare 
and  Milton  almost  by  heart.  He  did  not  think  much  of  the 
poets  beyond  Burns,  Byron,  and  the  two  I  have  mentioned. 
You  may  depend  upon  one  thing  —  when  he  thought  an  author 
worth  reading,  he  deemed  him  worthy  of  study.  He  very 
rarely  read  a  book ;  he  always  studied  it.  He  knew  little  of 
astronomy  or  the  natural  sciences.  I  do  not  think  he  had  a 
legal  mind  as  men  like  Taney,  Thurman,  or  his  partner 
Haynes ;  if  he  had,  it  was  obscured  by  his  political  contests. 
But  when  he  entered  upon  the  practice  he  threw  his  whole 
soul  into  it,  and  hunted  down  the  precedents  —  too  numerously. 
I  remember  of  arguing  against  him  an  important  case  before 
Judge  Haynes,  his  present  partner,  then  Judge,  in  which  he 
made  a  captivating  speech,  the  Judge  remarking  as  he  came 
down  from  the  bench,  '  What  a  fine  effort !  but  he  sailed  above 
the  questions/  I  think  that  if  he  had  confined  himself  to  the 
bar  he  would  have  made  a  very 'great  lawyer.  But  he  regarded 
the  law  as  his  auxiliary.  He  often  said  that  the  wear  and  tear 
of  court  were  too  much  for  him;  he  would  get  fat  in  a  polit- 


458  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

ical  campaign,  and  lose  his  flesh  in  the  confined  struggle  at  the 
bar.  The  secret  of  this  was  to  be  found  in  his  will.  He  dis 
liked  (  ntradiction,  defeat  or  opposition ;  and  at  the  bar  a  man 
must  meet  with  them  all.  He  cannot  choose  his  causes  nor 
command  his  victories ;  a  pigmy  may  overthrow  him  with  an 
overlooked  precedent. 

"  He  was  very  fond  of  reading  aloud,  and  was  an  excellent 
reader.  He  was  a  good  Latin  scholar,  reading  Horace,  Cicero, 
and  Quintilian  frequently  in  the  original." 

Although  Mr.  Vallandigham  cultivated  his  talent  for 
extemporaneous  speaking  more  diligently  than  his  talent  for 
writing,  yet  he  was  a  fine  writer.  His  letters  to  his  friends, 
even  business  letters,  are  often  adorned  with  gems  of  thought 
beautifully  expressed,  as  well  ^as  with  apt  quotations  from  dis 
tinguished  authors,  with  which  his  memory  was  richly  stored. 
In  a  business  letter  to  his  brother  James,  dated  Washington, 
D.C.,  June  2,  1860,  the  following  sentences  occur:  — 

"  I  am  younger  and  brighter  now  indeed  for  the  most  part 
—  happier  sometimes,  genial  and  gushing  yet;  though  now 
and  then  sad  memories  fall  upon  my  soul  as  evening  gathers 
its  twilight  shades  around  me,  and  I  listen  mournfully  to  the 
faint  and  yet  fainter  echoes  of  the  footsteps  of  departed  friends 
and  friendships,  as  they  linger  still  in  memory  among  the  ivy- 
grown  columns  and  corridors  of  the  former  time.  But '  look 
not  mournfully  into  the  past ;  it  comes  not  back  again.  Wisely 
improve  the  present ;  it  is  thine.  Go  forth  to  meet  the  shadowy 
future  without  fear  and  with  a  manly  heart.7  But  it  is  past 
eleven  o'clock,  and  I  see  the  flags  streaming  from  the  Capitol, 
and  am  recalled  to  the  duties  and  business  of  the  day." 

The  following  letter  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  to  his  wife  in 
relation  to  the  training  of  their  son  we  here  give,  although  the 
training  referred  to  is  moral  rather  than  mental.  Still  the 
letter  is  so  valuable  that  we  think  it  ought  to  be  published ; 
and  its  insertion  in  this  chapter  would  probably  be  as  appro 
priate  as  in  any  other :  — 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  459 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  18,  1862. 

"...  I  write  with  the  picture  of  my  dear  darling  little 
man  before  me.  Although  not  very  good,  I  look  at  t  many 
times  a  day.  It  reminds  me  deeply  of  him,  and  is  thought  by 
others  to  represent  a  very  sweet  little  boy.  '  Oh  that  those 
lips  had  language ! '  I  talk  to  the  picture  just  as  I  do  to  my 
boy  himself,  and  it  looks  as  if  it  would  speak,  yet  speaks  not ; 
yet  memory  supplies  a  world  of  what  he  has  said  to  me. 

"  Dear  little  fellow !  Happy  boy !  May  he  be  a  virtuous 
youth  and  a  noble  man.  He  will  be,  he  cannot  but  be  ambi 
tious  :  let  it  be  the  ambition  of  ( noble  ends  by  noble  means7: 
virtue,  honor,  principle,  let  these  be  his  watchwords;  and  in 
simplicity  and  sincerity,  without  hypocrisy  or  fanaticism,  let 
him  worship  the  God  of  his  fathers,  the  Universal  God,  the 
Almighty  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth. 

"  Three  qualities  are  essential,  and  they  cannot  be  acquired 
too  soon  :  firmness,  self-reliance,  and  self-denial.  Let  him  be 
a  boy,  a  youth,  a  young  man,  and  enjoy  in  moderation  what 
ever  belongs  to  each  of  these  successive  periods. of  life;  but  let 
all  be  made  subservient  to  health  and  strength  physically,  and 
to  the  development  of  gradual,  not  precocious,  maturity  of  the 
moral  and  intellectual  faculties,  postponing  the  stronger  pleas 
ures  and  indulgences  of  sense,  so  far  as  lawful,  till  the  body 
and  mind  and  will  are  fully  strengthened;  the  sound  mind 
and  sound  body  will  then  as  keenly  and  much  more  wisely 
appreciate  them  at  forty  as  the  most  reckless  youth  of  twenty. 

"Let  him  be  noble, and  generous, and  brave, and  frank, and 
true.  Let  him  shun  vice,  and  scorn  meanness.  Let  him  cul 
tivate — I  know  he  has  it  naturally  also  —  delicacy  and  purity. 
I  would  have  no  profane  or  foul  word  uttered  in  his  presence, 
even  as  to  things  lawful  and  necessary;  and  no  doubtful  allu 
sion  before  him.  Juvenal  was  right  — 

1  Nil  dictufoedum  msuque  liac  limina  tangat 
Intro,  qucB  puer  est.' 

"  Alas,  alas,  what  a  world  of  temptation  he  will  have  to 
encounter !  '  Let  him  learn  to  be  firm ;  let  him  learn  to  say 
no  to  tempters  without,  and  to  the  tempter  within.  It  is  a 
hard  lesson,  but  the  sooner  it  is  learned  the  better.  I  would 
have  him  pious.  I  like  that  word ;  it  is  a  better  and  broader 
word  than  religious,  and  it  implies  more  steadfastness  and  uni 
formity.  Especially  let  him  have  FAITH  —  faith  in  God;  and 


460  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

man,  and  woman.  Let  him  have  it,  and  cultivate  and  encour 
age  it  while  young:  alas!  he  will  learn  to  doubt  the  world  at 
least  soon  enough.  But  faith  will  remove  mountains  :  it  will 
sustain  him  when  all  else  fails,  even  when  sight  is  not  only 
wanting,  but  when  it  seems  actually  opposed  to  faith.  I  have 
tried  it  as  in  the  fiery  furnace,  and  when  millions  fell  away  I 
faltered  not.  Paul's  magnificent  chapter  on  faith  is  all  true, 
whether  applied  to  religion  or  to  things  of  this  life. 

"  But  I  am  writing  a  treatise,  when  I  sat  down  to  write  a 
letter.  Take  care  of  our  dear  precious  little  boy,  and  teach 
him  all  these  things.  Some  of  them  he  may  not  be  able  to 
comprehend  till  he  is  older  ;  but  preserve  this  letter  for  him. 

•"  One  thing  I  forgot,  though  indeed  it  is  implied  in  what  I 
have  written :  let  him  be  full  of  courage,  calm,  quiet,  unflinch 
ing  courage,  physical  and  moral,  afraid  of  nothing  except  to 
do  wrong.  And  to  this  I  would  have  him  add  fortitude,  the 
virtue  of  endurance.  To  DO  AND  TO  SUFFER — these  make  up 
much  of  the  great  business  of  life. 

"  Precious  boy !  May  God  preserve  thy  life  and  make  thee 
good  and  great !  And  if  all  this,  then  he  must  have  and  will 
have  that  noble  but  very  rare  virtue  of  true  amor  patrice, 
love  of  country. 

"As  to  books,  he  is  too  young  yet  to  require  any  suggestions 
in  regard  to  them.  But  let  him  read  the  Bible  diligently  from 
his  boyhood  up." 

Mr.  Yallandigham  was  a  fine  reader,  was  fond  of  reading 
aloud,  and  often  thus  read  for  the  instruction  and  entertain 
ment  of  his  family.  But  although  he  was  a  constant 
reader  of  books  and  a  close  student,  he  was  also  an  acute 
observer  of  men  and  things  around  him.  He  studied  the 
public  men  with  whom  he  mingled,  acquired  an  accurate 
^knowledge  of  their  character,  and  of  this  knowledge  his  friends 
sometimes  availed  themselves  for  their  own  guidance  and 
direction,  as  the  following  incident  will  illustrate.  Col.  Keys 
of  Cincinnati,  who  was  on  General  McClellan's  staff)  was 
always  a  warm  friend  of  Mr.  Yallandigham,  and  had  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  461 

greatest  confidence  in  his  judgment  and  admiration  of  his 
abilities.  Just  before  Hon.  E.  M.  Stanton  was  appointed 
Secretary  of  War,  Col.  Keys  had  a  long  conversation  with  Mr. 
Yallandigham  in  regard  to  the  public  men  of  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Yallandigham  had  in  his  earliest  days  been  a 
strong  and  intimate  friend  of  Stanton,  and  in  the  course  of  this 
conversation  he  expressed  in  the  highest  terms  his  admiration 
of  the  great  power  of  intellect,  untiring  energy,  and  the  firm 
ness  and  industry  of  that  gentleman.  Just  after  speaking  of 
this,  the  Colonel  abruptly  broke  off  the  conversation  and  left 
the  room.  Mr.  Yallandigham  never  understood  the  signifi 
cance  of  this  intervew  until  many  years  afterwards.  General 
McClellan  had  been  given  the  choice  of  the  new  Secretary  of 
War  in  the  place  of  Cameron,  who  was  about  to  be  removed ; 
he  had  referred  the  matter  to  Colonel  Keys,  and  the  latter  had 
brought  up  this  conversation  with  Mr.  Yallandigham  to  learn 
his  views  of  the  character  of  the  "  men  of  the  time."  The 
Colonel  had  never  thought  of  Stanton,  but  he  was  so  impressed 
by  what  Mr.  Yallandigham  said  of  the  man  that  he  imme 
diately  suggested  the  name  to  General  McClellan.  The 
General  was  impressed  with  what  Keys  said  of  Stanton,  and 
by  what  he  discovered  upon  inquiry  as  to  the  determination 
and  untiring  energy  which  were  Stanton's  great  characteristics. 
He  proposed  his  name  to  President  Lincoln,  who  immediately 
appointed  him.  And  thus  indirectly,  and  unconsciously  as  far 
as  he  was  concerned,  Mr.  Yallandigham,  the  great  advocate  of 
peace,  and  the  leader  of  the  peace  Democracy,  was  instrumental 
in  putting  into  place  and  power  the  man  who  more  than  any 
other  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  Federal  arms  and  to  the 
final  triumph  of  the  war  party  of  the  North.  What  a  com- 


462  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

mentary  is  here  furnished  upon  the  utter  inability  of  even  the 
greatest  genius  to  comprehend  the  effect,  in  the  future,  of  the 
most  trivial  act  or  remark,  or  to  understand  what  will  be  the 
result,  extending  to  all  the  coming  years,  of  the  most  private 
or  thoughtless  conversation ! 

The  above  incident  together  with  others  connected  with  the 
secret  history  of  the  war,  Mr.  Vallandigham  was,  just  before 
his  death,  preparing  to  furnish  to  the  Galaxy  magazine  for 
publication.  Had  he  lived  it  is  probable  that  he  would  have 
devoted  considerable  time  and  attention  to  literary  pursuits. 
He  had  in  contemplation  several  literary  enterprises,  among 
them  a  history  of  the  late  Civil  War,  for  the  preparation  of 
which  he  had  already  collected  some  material  when  his  active, 
career  was  suddenly  cut  short  by  his  sad  and  tragical  death. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

SOCIAL    AND    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER. 

CLEMENT  L.  YALLANDIGHAM  was  a  man  of  iron  will,  of 
unflinching  courage,  of  indomitable  energy,  and  of  untiring 
industry  and  perseverance :  he  possessed  in  a  very  high  degree 
all  those  sterner  qualities  that  command  the  respect  and  elicit 
the  admiration  of  men.  This  is  acknowledged  alike  by  friend 
and  foe.  But  he  possessed  also  in  the  highest  degree  those 
gentler  qualities  that  secure  affection.  Love  of  home  and 
home-joys,  attachment  to  his  friends,  affection  for  his  relatives, 
rejoicing  in  their  prosperity  and  sympathising  with  them  in 
their  sorrows — these  were^traits  of  character  for  which  he  was 
remarkably  distinguished.  His  was  as  warm,  as  affectionate 
a  heart  as  ever  throbbed  in  human  bosom.  The  evidence  of 
this  will  be  seen  in  the  letters  which  follow,  presented  not  in 
the  order  of  date,  but  in  the  order  best  suited  to  illustrate  the 
traits  above  referred  to. 

The  following  letter  is  addressed  to  his  eldest  brother,  the 
Rev.  James  L.  Vallandigham.  With  this  brother  he  studied 
Latin  and  Greek,  and  afterwards  law,  and  on  his  admission  to 
the  bar  became  his  partner,  and  continued  such  till  the  former 
left  the  profession  of  law  and  entered  the  ministry : — 

"DAYTON,  OHIO,  Wednesday,  Feb.  14,  1849. 
"My  Dear  Brother: — I  have  hesitated  some  minutes,  pon 
dering  as  to  which  of  you  I  should  address  this  letter,  seeing 


464  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM. 

that  you  (I  mean  sisters  M.  and  R.  and  yourself)  are  all  to 
gether.  But  I  conclude  to  address  it  to  you  (although  I  am 
perhaps  in  debt  to  both  of  them,  and  you  to  me),  since  I  can 
and  mean  to  write  an  '  epistle  general/  after  the  manner  of 
Peter.  R.'s  most  welcome  letter  is  before  me,  and  I  write 
with  an  eye  to  it,  hoping  she  will,  in  consideration  of  my  much 

business,  take  this  as  an  answer  for  the  present I  need 

not  say  how  greatly  pleased  I  should  be  to  see  you  all  again. 
Indeed  I  begin  to  feel  almost  sad  when  I  think  how  'far  and 
wide'  we  are  all  separated — we  who  gathered  once,  night  and 
morn,  around  the  same  parental  hearth.  But  Mrs.  Remans 
has  expressed  my  every  feeling  in  poetical  language  and 
imagery  which  I  cannot  command.  Our  father,  dear  father,  is 
gone  whence  we  cannot  recall  him.  He  walked  with  God, 
and  is  not,  for  God  took  him.  But  our  mother  yet  lives,  and 
we  all  are  still  spared;  and  I  hope  that  though  scattered  now, 
many  happy  re-unions  yet  await  us  around  that  same  blessed 
family-hearth  whose  fires  have  with  so  much  rejoicing  been 
again  lighted  up. 

"  But  you  will  no  doubt  be  interested  equally,  if  not  more, 
in  the  news  of  the  present  as  in  recollections  of  the  past  or 
anticipations  of  the  future.  Next  to  a  visit,  the  most  pleasur 
able  thing  to  me  is  a  minute  description  and  account  of  family 
matters  and  news.  It  brings  you  right  home  and  sets  you 
down  in  the  midst  of  your  friends.  Well,  let  me  tell  you  how 
we  are  <  getting  along/  as  the  phrase  goes.  First,  then,  we 
live  in  a  moderate-sized  but  very  neat  house,  and  very  con 
veniently  arranged.  It  is  on  Second  Street,  west  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  rather  far  down  towards  the  river.  We 
have  a  neat  little  yard  and  garden  around  it.  Our  bedroom  is 
up  stairs,  between  two  other  rooms,  with  a  door  opening  upon 
an  upper  porch  fronting  the  east.  We  have  a  nice  little  coal 
stove  to  sit  by.  During  the  day  I  am  at  the  office,  but  spend 
every  evening  at  home,  unless  we  are  both  out  visiting.  We 
sit  before  our  little  open  stove,  one  on  each  side  of  our  table, 
Louisa  sewing,  and  I  studying  or  reading  aloud.  And  thus 
the  evenings  pass,  except  that  now  and  then  a  loud  knock  an 
nounces  that  a  friend  is  ready  to  drop  in  and  sit  awhile  with 
us.  We  have  been  quite  social  this  winter,  going  out  or  re 
ceiving  visits  frequently.  The  young  ladies  and  gentlemen 
often  drop  in  and  take  tea  with  us,  which,  as  we  have  a  good 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.    '       465 

market,  and  ( Sally '  is  an  excellent ( help/  gives  us  no  trouble. 
So  separated  as  we  are  from  all  our  relatives,  .  .  we  are  mak 
ing  the  time  pass  as  pleasantly  as  possible." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Mary  E. 
Vallandigham,  wife  of  his  brother  James.  To  this  relative  he 
was  warmly  attached.  While  living  at  Snow  Hill,  Maryland, 
he  became  acquainted  with  her,  and  at  "  Salem,"  the  hospitable 
residence  of  her  father  on  the  edge  of  the  village,  he  spent  many 
a  pleasant  hour: — 

"DAYTON,  OHIO,  May  31,  1849. 

"  My  Very  Dear  /Sister: — It  has  been  so  long  since  I  heard 
from  any  of  you  that  I  begin  to  feel  anxious  to  know  what  the 
news  of  your  fireside  is,  and  what  events  have  transpired  since 
brother  James's  last  letter  in  February.  The  fault  indeed  of 
this  long  silence  is  mine,  for  I  have  not  before  found  leisure  to 
answer  that  full  and  most  welcome  letter.  In  truth,  I  was 
hardly  conscious  that  so  long  a  time  had  passed  since  I  received 
it.  But,  ah  me !  dear  sister,  how  swiftly  fly  the  hours  now ! 
I  had  occasion  to-day  to  look  over  some  of  my  Columbiana  old 
law-papers,  and  the  past  few  years  stood  all  before  me  in  pleas 
ing  but  melancholy  array,  yet  all  as  though  of  yesterday.  A 
thousand  things  which  I  had  forgotten  rushed  back  in  fresh 
recollection  upon  my  mind  — 

*  The  joys,  the  tears  of  long  passed  years, 
The  words  of  love  then  spoken.' 

Let  those  laugh  at  the  sentiment  who  never  had  a  happy 
home ;  but  how  dear  to  me  are  the  hallowed  recollections  of 
the  home  of  my  childhood,  boyhood  and  youth !  Poor  Lisbon ! 
she  is  not  what  she  has  been.  Dilapidation,  decay  and  death 
seem  to  have  marked  her  for  their  own.  Yet,  though  I  could 
not  by  any  means  be  prevailed  on  to  exchange  for  her  this  the 
most  beautiful  and  charming  place  in  all  the  West,  I  love  her 
still  —  I  love  her  for  the  past,  for  the  multiplied  associations 
connected  with  her.  Did  we  not  spend  some  sunny  hours 
there !  But  we  are  all  now  separated  far  and  wide,  hearing  no 
more  the  same  church-bell  nor  greeting  each  other  around  the 
same  hearth.  Do  you  remember  the  Sabbath  evenings  in  the 

30 


466  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

orchard  where  we  lingered  till  gray  twilight  crept  over  forest 
and  field,  and  day  died  away  on  the  hill-tops  ?  Or  those  other 
evenings  which  we  passed  in  summer  on  the  little  platform 
around  the  front-door  or  under  the  trees  in  the  yard,  while  the 
moonbeams  stole  quietly  through  the  foliage  and  fell  lightly 
upon  the  grass,  and  the  crickets  chirped  plaintively  among  the 
weeds  in  the  lane?  But  enough.  Let  us  remember  the 
lessons  of  philosophy :  '  Look  not  mournfully  into  the  past ; 
it  comes  not  back  again.  Wisely  improve  the  present ;  it  is 
thine.  Go  forth  to  meet  the  shadowy  future  without  fear  and 
with  a  manly  heart/  Or  the  yet  holier  precepts  of  the  Bible : 
'  So  numbering  our  days  as  to  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom.' 
Well,  then,  not  forgetting  the  past  with  its  sweet  but  melan 
choly  pleasures,  let  us  turn  to  the  present  and  the  future.  Oh, 
how  I  wish  you  were  all  with  us  in  this  beautiful  place !  Our 
house  now  (we  have  moved)  is  near  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  the  handsomest  part  of  the  city.  It  is  on  a  corner 
lot,  and  from  our  porch  and  front-door  we  look  out  on  beauties 
amid  which  Sylvanus  and  the  Dryads  might  well  love  to  dwell, 
and  this  too  in  the  midst  of  the  city — the  birds  sing  around 
us  every  morning.  But  I  cannot  describe  to  you  the  charms 
in  and  about  our  little  city.  The  grandeur  indeed  which  be 
longs  to  mountainous  regions  we  have  not,  but  all  the  beauties 
of  the  plain  are  ours.  And  the  people  are  just  as  hospitable 
and  agreeable  as  the  place  is  handsome.  When  will  you  come 
and  see  us  ?  " 

To  the  same : — 

"  DAYTON,  March  18,  '54 

" .  .  .  We  do  not  now  expect  to  visit  the  East  this  summer, 
but  shall  spend  some  time  in  New  Lisbon  Shall  we  never 
meet  again  ?  Shall  we  never  even  hear  from  you  again  ?  We 
both  unite  in  our  best  love  to  you  all.  Irving,  I  presume,  will 
soon  be  a  young  man ;  it  is  but  as  yesterday  since  I  first  saw 
him  an  infant  one  day  old.  But  I  am  getting  gray  myself, 
and  'am  not  what  I  have  been,  and  the  glow  which  in  my 
spirit  dwelt '  is  turned  now  to  the  sober  and  steady  light  of 
manhood.  And  how,  and  who,  and  what  are  you  now,  who 
were  once  Mary  Spence,  ( witching '  the  sand-hills  of  old 
Worcester  like  Di  Vernon  with  i  noble  horsemanship,'  and 
reading  Childe  Harold  and  Scott's  novels  as  if  there  were  no 


LIFE   OF  CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  467 

realities  to  be  grappled  with  in  life  ?  Verily  I  began  with  the 
figures  of  arithmetic  and  have  ended  with  figures  of  rhetoric ! 
So  I  must  pause.  Now  do,  for  the  sake  of  the  hallowed 
memories  of  the  past,  my  dear  sister,  if  you  care  nothing  or 
expect  nothing  in  the  future,  write  me  one  of  your  old-fashioned 
letters.  Let  the  abundance  of  your  heart  speak  out. 

"  Very  sincerely  still,  as  of  yore  under  the  moonlit  trees 
of  ( Salem/  your  most  affectionate  brother, 

"  CLEMENT. 

"  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Vallandigham,  New  Ark,  Delaware. 

"P.  S. — How  is  c  Jimmy  Laird '?  I  would  be  delighted 
to  see  him.  Tell  him  he  must  study  hard  and  be  a  good  boy, 
so  that  he  may  be  useful  and  make  his  mark  in  the  world  for 
good  when  he  grows  up." 

New  Lisbon  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  towns  in  the  State 
of  Ohio.  Regularly  laid  out  and  compactly  built,  it  presents 
the  appearance  of  a  little  city.  On  the  south  and  the  west 
are  hills  so  lofty  that  they  might  almost  be  called  mountains. 
Along  the  foot  of  these  hills  flows  a  beautiful  stream  —  one  of 
the  forks  of  the  Beaver.  There  is  also  a  considerable  acclivity 
to  the  north,  on  which  part  of  the  town  is  built,  though 
the  principal  part  is  nestled  in  the  valley.  The  town  is  health 
ful,  the  people  refined,  intelligent  and  social,  and  the  scenery 
charming. 

The  Eev.  Clement  Vallandigham  was  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  the  place  —  made  it  his  permanent  residence  in 
1807.  He  purchased  a  few  acres  at  the  west  end  of  Walnut 
street,  just  on  the  edge  of  the  village,  and  erected  a  comfort 
able  brick  house.  Additions  to  it  were  afterwards  made,  and 
now  it  is  a  large  and  commodious  mansion.  Here  his  children 
and  many  of  his  grandchildren  were  born.  The  site  is  hand 
some,  and  surrounded  as  it  is  with  fruit  trees  and  ornamental 


/ 

468  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

trees  and  shrubbery,  it  is  an  attractive,  a  delightful  place. 
To  this,  the  Old  Homestead,  his  son  Clement  was  warmly 
attached,  as  were  also  all  the  members  of  the  family.  "  Beau 
tiful  for  situation,"  a  home  of  peace  and  piety  and  love  and 
happiness,  where  for  years  father  and  mother  and  seven 
children  dwelt  together  in  harmony  —  he  often  refers  to  it 
in  his  letters  in  terms  of  warmest  affection.  His  feelings  on 
revisiting  this  place  are  depicted  in  the  following  extracts  from 
letters  addressed  to  his  brother  James : — 

\ 
"  NEW  LISBON,  July  31,  1849. 

"  My  Dear  Brother :  —  To-day  mother  received  sister  B,/,s 
letter,  and  though  I  wrote  to  you  just  before  I  left  Dayton, 
yet  inasmuch  as  I  feel  in  a  writing  mood,  I  have  determined 
not  to  delay  for  an  answer.  We  left  D.  on  Thursday, 
July  19,  1849,  and  arrived  that  night  by  rail  at  Sandusky 
City,  where  we  remained  till  morning,  when  we  took  the  lake- 
boat  for  Cleveland,  and  arriving  there  about  noon,  rested  till 
Monday  morning,  at  which  time  we  left  in  the  stage  for 
Lisbon.  About  early  dawn  on  Tuesday  morning,  the  24th, 
we  entered  by  the  Salem  road  the  old  familiar  town,  and 
roused  the  family  from  their  slumbers,  and  were  happy  to  find 
them  all  well.  For  several  days  we  kept  within  doors 
recruiting,  and  purging  our  systems  of  the  pestilent  effects 
of  the  cholera  atmosphere.  Now  we  are  both  in  good  health 
and  spirits.  The  weather  is  fine,  and  I  have  been  about  for 
several  days  visiting  the  haunts  of  my  childhood  and  youth. 
The  contrast  between  the  close  and  noisome  atmosphere  of  the 
cholera  regions  and  the  pure  and  bracing  air  of  this  place  has 
quite  exhilarated  me.  Something,  too,  is  owing  to  the  power 
of  early  recollections  and  old  associations.  The  home  of  my 

birth  and   childhood   is   very   dear   to   me But  very 

many,  indeed  nearly  all  of  those  who  once  made  this  place 
dear  and  pleasant,  are  gone ;  some  dead,  some  removed  —  all 

gone But  how  lovely  are  these  dear  old  hills,  these 

sweet  green  fields,  these  pleasant  valleys !  every  blade  of  grass 
and  every  old  tree  has  some  dear  association  connected  with  it. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  469 

The  beams  of  the  morning  sun  shine  nowhere  so  sweetly,  and 
his  setting  rays  bring  on  the  mild  shades  of  evening  nowhere 
so  softly,  as  viewed  from  this  dear  old  Homestead.  It  is  a, 
dear,  a  lovely  spot,  not  merely  from  the  many  and  sweet  recol 
lections  and  associations  in  memory  which  cluster  round  it, 
but  because  nature  has  really  made  it  and  the  hills,  streams, 
fields,  forests  and  valleys  around  very  beautiful.  It  is  now 
night,  and  while  I  am  writing  at  the  window  of  the  old 
6  South  Room/  the  moonbeams  are  falling  quietly  through  the 
leaves  of  the  trees,  whose  shadows  sleep  so  softly  on  the  green 
grass  of  the  '  front  yard.'  The  crickets,  lineal  descendants,  no 
doubt,  of  their  ancestors  who  chirped  so  plaintively  in  our 
boyhood's  ears,  are  still  chiming  the  old  accustomed  song. 
The  trees  have  grown  so  much  that  they  almost  obscure  the 
house  entirely  from  view  from  the  street ;  but  yet  there  is  little 
change  here,  except  that  some  of  the  happy  inmates  of  this 
house  are  absent  —  one,  the  revered  and  beloved  father,  guide 
and  protector  of  us  all,  sleeps  in  death.  This  is  brother 
George's  birthday:  Sabbath  was  mine.  It  is  something  to 
pass  one's  thirtieth  birthday  in  the  same  house  and  the  same 
room  where  born,  and  receive  there  the  blessing  of  the  same 
mother.  To-day  I  revisited  some  of  the  places  around  here 
endeared  by  early  recollections.  Day  after  day  I  look  with 
pleasure  on  the  beauties  of  the  scenery  which  surrounds  me, 

for  all  is  indeed  beautiful I  hope  your  wishes  may  be 

gratified,  and  that  you  may  be  restored  to  this  your  old  home. 
Though  much  out  of  repair,  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautifully 
situated  and  sweetest  places  in  tho  world." 

In  the  summer  of  1851  he  again  visited  his  old  home,  and 
thus  writes  to  the  same  brother : — 

"  THE  OLD  HOMESTEAD,  NEW  LISBON, 

"Thursday,  July  17,  1851. 

"My  Very  Dear  Brother : —  I  promised  you,  some  eighteen 
months  ago,  a  long,  long  letter,  and  week  after  week  have 
designed  to  redeem  the  promise.  But  as  I  used  to  tell  dear 
sister  Mary,  e  the  cares  of  this  world  and  the  deceitfulness  of 
•riches '  have  caused  me,  day  by  day,  to  put  it  off.  I  now  be 
gin,  but  whether  I  shall  be  able  to  spin  it  out  to  the  <  cousti- 


470  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

tutional  length/  I  cannot  say.  But  I  will  write  till  I  get 
through.  Hereafter  I  shall  make  no  such  promises,  for  it  has 
clearly  prevented  me  from  writing  several  shorter  ones  long 
ago.  .  .  .  Though  I  have  been  negligent  of  writing,  I  assure 
you  I  have  thought  of  you  and  yours  every  day  with  the  kind 
liest  affection.  And  indeed  you  do  not  know  how  I  have 
grieved  over  our  long  and  distant  separation,  and  how  glad  I 
should — and  hope  I  shall — be  when  we  shall  be  brought 
closer  together.  It  is  now  nearly  six  years  since  we  ceased  to 
be  residents  of  the  same  place,  and  though  we  have  met  several 
times  since,  yet  our  intercourse  has  of  necessity  been  much 
limited.  I  would  we  might  all  be  together  once  more  even  for 
a  little  —  much  more,  that  we  could  live  again  in  the  same 
place  and  be  brothers  as  of  yore.  But  as  this  can  hardly  be, 
how  rejoiced  I  would  feel  if  we  could  be  nearer  at  least !  If 
you  prefer  it,  I  hope  some  way  will  yet  be  opened  up  —  and 
soon  too  —  for  your  return  to  this  place.  Though  in  view  of 
the  course  of  life  which  I  feel  impelled  to  pursue,  I  am  un 
willing  to  live  here  myself,  and  presume  I  never  shall,  yet  I 
love  it  dearly.  There  is  scarce 'an  object  around  me  which  is 
not  entwined  with  the  very  tendrils  of  my  heart  —  not  a  sight 
or  sound  which  does  not  call  up  a  thousand  pleasing,  though 
it  may  be  melancholy  recollections.  I  have  now  been  here 
nearly  two  weeks,  and  everything  is  as  beautiful  and  dear  to 
me  as  ever.  The  sunbeams  gild  these  hills  as  brightly,  and 
the  shadows  fall  as  gently  over  these  valleys,  and  the  moon 
light  sleeps  as  sweetly  under  these  trees,  as  they  did  '  in  life's 
morning  march/  I  write  in  the  ( South  Eoom ; ;  but  the  trees 
are  now  grown  so  thick  in  number  and  foliage  that  the  street 
can  scarce  be  seen  from  the  window.  The  old  cherry-tree  is 
fuller  of  fruit  than  for  now  just  seventeen  years — 1833.  The 
old  locust  is  now  much  higher  than  the  house  —  the  orchard 
just  as  it  was,  but  many  new  trees  have  grown  up  in  the  front 
yard.  The  stable  looks  almost  too  dilapidated  to  be  venerable; 
the  pump,  oven,  and  wash-house  show,  too,  the  marks  of  age. 
The  meadow  has  just  been 'mowed  and  yielded  much  hay. 
The  trees  in  the  fields  around  are  about  as  they  were ;  but  that 
beautiful  grove,  <  Potter's  "Woods/  hallowed  by  a\thousand 
sweet  recollections,  has  at  last  with,  profane  and |£eathenish 
barbarity,  and  in  the  worst  spirit  of  ^vandalising  beeri*cut  ,down 
entirely.  I  feel  like  David  of  old,  as  "if -'the  heathen!had"come 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  471 

into  our  heritage/  They  have  certainly  denied  one  of  <  God's 
first  temples/  Other  objects,  and  especially  that  beautiful  out 
line  of  hills  and  woods  which  surround  the  town  on  the  west, 
south,  and  east,  remain  the  same ;  nor  must  I  forget ( Hepner's 
Hollow/  How  many  a  quiet  Sabbath  evening  have  I  watched 
from  the  window  the  lengthening  shadows  falling  gently  upon 
its  sides !  And  the  water  murmurs  as  sweetly  through  it 
'  over  the  enameled  stones/  as  in  my  boyhood's  days.  Verily, 
these  are  '  chosen  seats/  and  I  have  wandered  over  them  by 
the  hour  repeating  the  lines  I  believe  I  have  often  quoted  be 
fore — Hie  illius  arma:  his  currus  fuit,  &c.  Juvat  ire  ad 
castra :  Hie  acies  solebat  certare :  hie  manus  Dolopum.  I  can 
never  forget  them.  Like  the  dying  Argive,  hither  will  I  turn 
my  eyes  as  they  search  for  the  last  time  for  earth  and  earth- 
born  objects,  et  dulces  moriens  reminiscetur  Argos.  Nor  can  I 
forget  that  whatever,  if  any,  of  good  and  merit  there  is  about 
me,  was  here  acquired  under  the  precept  and  example  of  our 
noble  and  excellent  parents,  one  of  whom,  God  be  praised,  yet 
survives.  This,  too,  was  the  scene  of  my  early  ambition  and 
studies,  of  early  struggles  and  ea£ly  triumphs.  This,  you 
remember,  was  my  room.  I  see  here  still  the  mottoes  which 
ten  years  ago  I  wrote  upon  the  wall  —  'Amor  Patrice' — 'Sem 
per  memor  qui  sis '  — ( Quisque  suce  fortunes  faber,'  and  the 
words  of  the  dying  Roman  matron,  '  Pacte,  non  dolet?  But 
there  are  also  endearing  ties  here  common  to  us  all.  There  is 
an  odor  of  sanctity  about  this  house.  It  is  a  house  of  prayer, 
and  for  forty  years  the  incense  of  devotion  has  gone  up  to 
heaven  from  its  hearths.  I  feel  that  it  is  good  for  me  to  be 
here." 

The  following  letter  exhibits  the  deep  and  tender  sympathy 
he  felt  for  his  friends  in  time  of  trouble,  and  his  earnest  efforts 
to  comfort  and  encourage  them.  His  eldest  brother  had 
changed  his  profession,  and  as  a  consequence  found  it  necessary 
to  leave  the'  Old  Homestead  and  seek  a  new  field  of  labor  in 
his  new  profession,  and  was  for  a  time  unsettled.  The  old 
home  was  then  rented  to  strangers,  and  there  were  apprehen 
sions  that  it  might  pass  entirely  out  of  the  possession  of  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

family,  a  calamity  which  they  all  greatly  deprecated.     Under 
these  circumstances  he  thus-ifcrites  to  his  sister-in-law : — 

"NEW  LISBON,  7th  June,  1846. 

My  very  dear  Sister :  — Your  letter  to  sister  Margaret  was 
received  yesterday,. and  though  between  love,  war,  politics  and 
court  I  never  was  so  busy  in  my  life,  I  cannot  refrain  writing 
to  you.  I  am  so  sorry  that  circumstances  were  such  that  you 
could  not  have  come  home  and  spent  the  time  with  us.  I 
sympathise  most  warmly,  earnestly  with  you  in  your  present 
unsettled,  wandering  life.  It  almost  makes  my  heart  bleed ; 
indeed  I  couldn't  help  shedding  a  few  tears  over  your  letter, 
and  exclaiming,  God  bless  the  dear  Mary !  Do  you  remember 
one  bright  moonlight  night  when  we  were  young,  in  Snow 
Hill,  on  the  east  porch  at  '  Salem/  (ah  me,  all  gone,  long, 
long  ago !)  I  promised  to  be  a  brother  to  you  ?  Well,  I  have 
been  and  am  yet,  and  mean  to  be  till  death.  I  often  love  to 
think  of  the  happy  hours  wre  used  to  see  on  the  'Eastern 
Shore/  and  at  home  too.  How  often  we  sat  in  your  upper 
porch  anfl.  on  the  front  siSps,  or  walked  in  the  orchard  in  the 
Sabbath  evenings  (this  too  is  a  Sabbath  evening ;  looks  just 
like  some  of  the  evenings  of  former  years  — but  I  must  write 
to  you.)  I  have  just  returned  from  a  walk  past  the  old  spot. 
Oh,  how  sad  I  felt  to  think  that  the  fire  on  the  old  family  hearth 
had  gone  out,  and  that  strangers  trod  the  rooms  where  we  so 
often  sat,  and  that  I  could  no  more  enter  the  olden  mansion  or 
walk  over  the  grounds,  and  call  it  'home/  Yet  the  grass 
and  the  trees  are  as  green,  and  the  front  yard  as  pretty,  and  the 
flowers  as  bright  as  when  it  was  home.  But  let  us  pass  by  these 
things.  I  cannot  be  sad  long.  I  sing  in  my  heart,  '  Come 
again,  bright  days,  come  again/  and  they  are  'almost  here. 
Do  not  despair,  dear  sister.  Courage,  courage ;  brighter  pros 
pects  are  before  you,  better  days  are  in  store.  The  wilderness 
is  almost  passed,  Jordan  is  at  your  feet ;  from  Pisgah  do  you 
not  see  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  ?  Do  not  repine : 
the  foxes  had  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  had  nests,  but  the 
Son  of  man,  the  only  and  well-beloved  Son  of  the  '  Father  in 
Heaven/  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  "What  a  lesson  of 
resignation  and  patience  and  fortitude ! " 

But  words  of  kindness  and  sympathy  on  the  part  of  Mr. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  473 

Vallandigham  were  not  the  only  evidences  of  affection  for  his 
relatives  and  friends.  "When  opportunity  offered,  or  necessity 
called  for  it,  he  promptly  and  to  the  full  measure  of  his  ability 
granted  substantial  aid.  His  father  died  in  1839,  leaving  a 
widow  and  seven  children  —  three  of  them  minors  —  Clement, 
and  a  younger  brother  and  sister.  For  thirty-two  years  he 
had  labored  diligently  and  faithfully  in  his  calling,  but  the 
estate  he  left  was  small.  His  salary,  like  that  of  his  brethren 
in  the  ministry  generally,  had  always  been  inadequate ;  by  in 
dustry  and  economy  however,  teaching  his  children  himself,  and 
they  assisting  each  other,  he  managed  to  give  them  all  a  good 
education.  This  was  all  he  could  do.  At  his  death,  the  support 
of  the  family  devolved  in  a  good  measure  on  the  eldest  son ; 
and  when  after  some  years  he  left  the  bar,  entered  the  ministry 
and  removed  to  a  distant  field  of  labor,  Clement,  who  in  the 
meantime  had  finished  his  education,  studied  his  profession  and 
entered  upon  its  practice,  assumed  his  place,  and  till  Ins  death 
faithfully  performed  the  duty  thus  thrown  upon  him.  Before 
he  was  able  to  buy  a  home  for  himself  he  purchased  one  for 
his  mother,  borrowing  money  for  the  purpose.  To  this  he  refers 
in  the  following  letters  to  his  mother  and  his  brother  James  : — 

"DAYTON,  Sept.  3,  1851. 

"My  Dearest  Dear  Mother: — Your  most  welcome  letter  came 
this  moment,  and  I  assure  you  I  am  very  thankful  to  you  for 
•writing.  I  think  of  you  and  of  you  all  every  day.  The 
pleasure  which  the  praise  I  receive  throughout  the  State  gives 
you,  my  dearest  mother,  is  a  far  higher  gratification  to  me  than 
the  praise  itself;  and  so  far  as  I  deserve  it,  to  you  and  to  my 
dear  departed  father  under  Providence  the  merit  is  clue.  Under 
your  roof,  around  your  hearth-stone,  from  your  lips  and 
his,  I  learned  those  things,  praise  for  which  I  most  highly 
value.  And  I  unite  most  fervently  with  you  in  the  wish  that 


474  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

I  may  find  a  name  and  a  place  among  the  chosen  of  God. 
Meantime  it  is  my  earnest  prayer  daily  that  I  may  not  forget 
that  '  riches  and  honor ;  come  from  Him.  I  am  very  glad  to 
hear  that  you  are  so  well  and  so  comfortable  so  far,  and  if  I 
can  possibly  be  in  New  Lisbon  this  fall  I  will  certainly  go  ;  but 
if  not,  I  will  not  forget  you.  I  hope  to  meet  you  often  again. 
Tell  my  clear  sister  Margaret  to  be  of  good  cheer,  remembering 
always  that  David  has  said  that  he  had  been  young  but  was 
now  old,  yet  he  had  never  seen  the  righteous  forsaken  or  his 
children  begging  bread.  All  will  come  right  in  good  time ; 
light  will  dawn  when  and  where  least  expected. 

"...  So  the  property  will  be  sold ;  but  so  much  the  better 
perhaps ;  for  if  I  can  make  the  arrangement  to  get  the  money 
in  the  way  and  on  the  terras  I  spoke  of,  I  will  buy  it  myself.  If 
not,  I  will  provide  you  a  most  comfortable  place  to  live  in  in 
any  event ;  though  I  would  for  your  sake,  dearest  mother,  and 
my  own  and  the  sake  of  all  of  us,  a  thousand  times  prefer  to 
keep  the  old  place  for  you.  And  I  will  do  all  which  I  can  do 
safely;  and  I  know  my  mother  desires  no  more." 

From  the  letter  which  follows  it  will  be  seen  that  he  suc 
ceeded  in  securing  a  home  for  his  mother,  and  the  one  which 
above  all  others  she  preferred  —  the  Old  Homestead.  In  this 
she  lived  many  years  —  to  the  close  of  her  life  —  her  daughters 
living  with  her.  He  was  accustomed  to  pay  her  an  annual 
visit,  and  as  long  as  she  lived  he  provided  cheerfully  and 
liberally  for  her  wants  and  lovingly  ministered  to  her  comfort, 
and  when  she  died  he  continued  the  same  kind  care  to  the 
members  of  her  family  £hat  survived. 

To  his  brother  James : — 

'•DAYTON,  December  22d,  1851. 

" .  .  .  Upon  these  considerations  alone  it  was  that  I  pur 
chased  the  property.  I  do  not  expect  ever  to  occupy  it  myself. 
I  bought  it  as  a  home  for  my  mother  while  she  lives.  I  desire 
that  she  and  my  sisters,  and  Mr.  R.  and  family  (if  she  wishes 
it)  shall  occupy  it ;  and  I  do  not  expect  to  receive  anything 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  475 

for  it  except  in  the  way  of  taxes  and  repairs  —  perhaps  not 
even  that  —  though  I  shall  pay  the  interest  upon  the  purchase 
money  every  year  myself.  This  is  the  utmost  I  can  do,  for 
though  my  practice  is  becoming  lucrative,  I  have  nothing  else 
to  depend  on.  "We  live  ourselves  very  plainly,  exercising  still 
no  small  self-denial.  But  we  have  seen  worse  times,  having, 
since  we  came  to  Dayton,  suffered  many  privations  and  seen 
some  sore  affliction.  Yet  we  suffered  all  in  silence,  and  no  one 
knew  of  it.  Times  are  now  changed,  and  by  denying  myself 
luxuries,  I  can  render  aid  to  those  who  have  so  strong  a  claim 
upon  me  ;  and  above  all  to  her  to  whom  I  owe  so  much,  and 
who  through  the  wearisome  months  and  years  of  infancy  and 
childhood  watched  over  and  protected  me  in  my  helplessness." 

We  feel  a  delicacy  in  introducing  these  private  family 
matters,  but  it  is  rendered  necessary  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
wild  excitement  of  1861,  and  again  in  the  violent  political 
campaign  of  1863,  the  charge  of  neglect  of  his  aged  mother 
was  alleged  against  him  —  a  charge  that  was  utterly  ground 
less,  and  one  that  he  resented  more  indignantly  than  any  other 
that  had  ever  been  made. 

The  following  letter  published  at  the  time  will  sufficiently 
indicate  the  nature  of  the  charge  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  disposed  of.  It  is  addressed  to  a  Republican  editor^,  in 
whose  paper  the  slanderous  article  had  appeared  :  — 


ARK,  DEL.,  July  24,  1861. 

"Sir:  —  My  attention  has  been  called  to  an  article  in  your 
paper  of  last  Saturday,  which  demands  some  notice  from  me. 
I  mean  the  article  in  reference  to  my  brother,  the  Hon.  C.  L. 
Vallandigham,  member  of  Congress  from  the  Third  District 
of  Ohio.  The  article  in  question  purports  to  be  an  extract 
from  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  of  the  Dayton  district,  and 
contains  a  most  atrocious  calumny  on  my  brother,  as  well  as 
allusions  to  my  aged  and  venerable  mother  of  a  highly  offen 
sive  character. 

"  Who  the  author  is  I  do  not  know,  but  I  assert  that  the 


476  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLAKDIGHAM. 

charge  he  brings  is  without  the  slightest  foundation  in  truth; 
is  indeed  precisely  the  reverse  of  what  is  true.  Even  the  im 
material  allegations  he  makes  are  false,  evincing  total  ignorance 
in  reference  to  the  matter  of  which  he  writes,  or  utter  reckless 
ness.  '  He  speaks  of  my  mother  as  a  member  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  at  Dayton;  whereas  she  was  never  within  a 
hundred  miles  of  Dayton  in  her  life.  My  father,  the  Rev. 
Clement  Vallandigham,  was  for  thirty-two  years  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  New  Lisbon,  Ohio. 

"  It  is  there  his  widow  lives,  and  has  lived  for  more  than 
fifty  years.  And  I  assert  what  I  know  to  be  the  fact,  that  she 
is  now,  and  has  been  for  years,  maintained  by  this  same  son 
whom  your  correspondent  so  basely  defames.  And  a  kinder 
and  more  affectionate  son  can  nowhere  be  found.  He  supports 
her  most  cheerfully ;  it  affords  him  pleasure  to  minister  to  her 
wants,  and  make  her  comfortable.  She  occupies  as  good  a 
house,  I  have  no  doubt,  as  your  correspondent,  and  is  in  all 
respects  in  as  comfortable  circumstances,  and  in  as  little  danger 
or  fear  of  want  in  the  future,  as  he. 

"And  all  this  is  provided  by  this  same  son,  who  has  a 
family  of  his  own  to  support  beside,  and  whose  means  are 
comparatively  limited,  who  earns  his  daily  bread  by  his  daily 
labor.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  my  brother's  political  course 
(and  in  this  I  know  he  is  as  honest  and  conscientious  as  any 
man  in  the  country),  all  who  are  acquainted  with  him  can 
testify  to  the  purity  and  integrity  of  his  private  character. 

"  Trusting  that  you  will  insert  this  in  your  paper,  and  thus 
in  a  measure  counteract  the  injury  done  by  the  article  referred 
to,  "  I  am  yours,  &c., 

"  J.  L.  VALLANDIGHAM." 

The  foregoing  letter  sufficiently  answers  the  charge  of  neg 
lect  ;  but  we  go  further,  and  affirm  that  so  far  from  being  guilty 
of  any  neglect,  he  was  distinguished  for  very  warm  affection  to 
his  mother,  and  for  earnest  and  constant  effort  to  promote  her 
comfort :  and  in  proof  of  this  we  will  make  brief  extracts  from 
a  number  of  his  letters  : — 

«  DAYTON,  March  11/53. 

"My  Dear  Mother: — I  have  not  time  to-day  to  write  you 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  477 

a  long  letter.  Yours  of  the  3d  instant  was  very  welcome,  and 
affected  me  much.  I  hope  you  may  live  many  years  longer  in 
health  and  strength,  and  that  goodness  and  mercy  will  here 
after  as  heretofore  follow  you  all  your  days  — -  all  your  ways 
being  pleasantness,  and  all  your  paths  peace.  I  cannot  do  too 
much  for  you :  all  I  have  done  or  can  do  is  but  as  the  small 
dust  of  the  balance." 

To  the  same  : — 

"DAYTON,  Nov.  22,  1853. 

" .  .  .  I  trust  you  will  spend  the  winter  pleasantly.  Do 
take  good  care  of  your  health;  and  do  not  deny  yourself  a 
single  comfort — nor  my  dear  sisters.  I  am  still  highly  pros 
pered,  and  able,  and  I  thank  God  willing  and  anxious  to  do 
all  I  can." 


To  the  same  : — 


"DAYTON,  March  8,  1855. 


" My  Dearest  Mother: — Inasmuch  as  I  have  been  most 
abundantly  prospered  above  any  former  period  of  my  profes 
sional  life,  within  the  last  five  or  six  weeks,  please  accept  the 
inclosed  as  a  testimonial  of  my  ever  grateful  sense  of  the  many 
obligations  I  am  under  to  you,  and  which  I  more  and  more 
feel  that  I  shall  never  be  able  to  repay." 

To  the  same:— 

"  DAYTON,  June  28,M856. 

"...  But  never  be  uneasy,  I  have  always  plenty  to  supply 
all  your  wants ;  and  it  would  distress  me  sorely  to  think  that 
you  ever  felt  uneasy  or  unhappy  about  it.  God  in  His  kind 
Providence  blesses  me  still  in  basket  and  in  store.  I  bless  His 
holy  name  night  and  morning,  and  at  all  times,  for  His  loving 
kindness  and  tender  mercies.  I  am  very  anxious  to  see  you 
again,  and  will  spend  all  my  spare  time  in  Lisbon .  this 


summer." 


Mr.  Vallandigham  never  had  much  command  of  money ; 
and  we  make  this  statement  in  justice  to  his  character. _  Some 


478  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

of  his  friends  sometimes  thought  that  he  was  not  as  liberal  as 
he  ought  to  be  in  contributions  to  meet  political  expenses  of 
his  party,  even  in  his  own  campaigns.  The  reason  was,  he 
had  not  money  of  his  own,  and  he  would  not  use  that  of  others- 
The  purchase  of  a  home  for  his  mother,  and  afterwards  of  a 
house  for  himself,  kept  him  in  debt  for  sixteen  years.  And 
when  that  debt  was  paid,  the  support  of  his  family  and  the  aid 
which  he  felt  bound  to  render  to  others  who  were  dependent 
upon  him  absorbed  the  whole  of  his  income.  He  never  made 
anything  by  politics.  "When  in  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  and 
afterwards  in  Congress,  the  salary  attached  to  his  office  was  all 
that  he  received.  His  hands  were  never  denied  with  a  bribe. 
Pecuniarily  as  well  as  in  all  other  respects,  he  was  a  man  of  the 
strictest  honesty  and  integrity. 

In  January,  1848,  he  lost  his  first-born  son,  then  his  only 
child.  His  tender  love  for  the  child  and  deep '[  grief  at  the 
bereavement  are  depicted  in  the  following  letter  to  his  brother 
James : — 

"DAYTON,  January  31,  1848. 

"My  Very  Dear  Brother : — Although  this  is  the  day  which 
I 'generally  devote  to  the  writing  of  editorial,  yet  I  have  delayed 
so  long  to  reply  to  your  letters,  now  three  in  number  unan 
swered,  that  I  feel  as  if  I  should  delay  no  longer.  Mary's 
letter  to  Louisa  came  also  a  few  days  ago.  It  was  a  dear, 
comforting  letter,  and  we  feel  truly  grateful  for  the  kindness 
and  sympathy  which  you  feel  for  us.  I  cannot  now  tell  you 
all  the  circumstances  attending  the  death  of  our  dear  cherub. 
It  was  very  sudden  and  unexpected,  and  crushed  our  hearts  to 
the  very  ground.  My  dear  little  boy  was  just  beginning  to 
notice  objects  fully,  and  every  day  twined  him  more  closely 
round  our  hearts.  He  was  the  joy  of  our  family  hearth :  the 
very  fire  burned  brighter  from  his  presence ;  and  bright  visions 
of  the  future  connected  with  him  every  day  sprang  up  in  my 
imagination.  And  this  is  the  sting  of  my  grief  now.  I  do 


LIFE   OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  479 

not  meet  a  little  boy  on  the  street  but  my  heart  bleeds,  every 
wound  streams  afresh.  O  my  Willie,  my  own  dear  boy  !  It 
was  not  permitted  to  me  to  see  my  precious  child  grow  up. 
His  disease  was  violent  and  soon  reached  the  fatal  point,  but 
his  death  was  lingering :  it  seemed  almost  as  if  he  did  not 
want  to  leave  us.  And  this  was  the  bitterness  of  death  —  to 
see  his  long  struggle  with  the  monster ;  to  behold  him  cling 
thus  to  life  and  yet  have  no  power  to  save  him ;  to  watch  his 
dear,  sweet,  precious  frame  sink,  and  his  once  bright  smiling 
eye  grow  dim  hour  by  hour.  Oh,  may  you  never  lose  a  child ! 
But  at  last  his  breath  parted  so  gently  that  we  could  hardly 
tell  that  he  was  gone.  But  it  was  so :  my  poor  dear  boy  was 
no  more.  We  buried  him  on  a  beautiful  knoll  in  the  ceme 
tery,  and  between  two  little  trees.  There  he  sleeps  quietly,  un 
knowing  of  his  poor  father's  grief.  I  mean  to  have  a  little 
marble  monument  put  over  his  grave  (the  only  land  I  own  on 
earth),  with  his  name  '  "Willie y  inscribed,  and  the  words,  '  Of 
such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven/  Louly's  grief  was  terrible, 
and  the  scene  of  her  parting  with  his  corpse  heart-rending 
beyond  description;  but  she  is  now  for  the  most  part  calm  and 
resigned.  Everybody  was  as  kind  as  if  we  were  their  nearest 
relatives :  I  never  lived  among  or  even  visited  such  a  people 
before.  Mr.  Anderson  was  an  especial  comfort  to  us ;  he  is  an 
extraordinary  man.  But  nothing  enabled  me  to  bear  up  under 
the  affliction  except  the  firm  conviction  that  though  we  saw 
not  how,  it  was  for  the  best,  and  that  He  who  orders  all  things 
aright  required  our  babe  of  us.  He  had  given,  and  He  now 
took  away.  After  having  thus  passed  through  the  fiery  furnace 
ourselves,  we  are  prepared  to  sympathise  most  deeply  with 
Mary  in  her  affliction.  I  heard  of  Mrs.  Kobins'  death  with 
real  sorrow. 

"As  to  the  plan  proposed  by  Mr.  R.  I  am  sorry  to  see  you 
go  away  so  far;  it  is  very  hard  indeed.  I  had  hoped  that  we 
might  yet  live  in  the  same  place ;  I  hope  so  yet.  The  offer  is 
a  tempting  one,  yet  there  are  some  serious  objections  which.  I 
foresee.  Still  if  you  think  it  for  the  best,  go  with  our  blessing. 
I  almost  weep  to  think  that  our  family,  once  so  closely  bound 
together,  inmates  of  the  same  house,  seated  all  around  the  same 
fireside,  are  already  so  widely  separated.  Oh  that  we  could 
pass  through  the  brief  journey  of  life  near  together!  What 
would  we  not  have  given  to  have  had  you  all  with  us  in  our 
late  affliction ! " 


480  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Mr.  Vallandigham's  social  qualities  were  of  a  high  order. 
He  was  exceedingly  popular  with  the  masses.  Young  men  who 
studied  in  his  office  became  warmly  attached  to  him.  Men 
connected  with  him  in  business,  or  who  mingled  with  him 
socially,  esteemed  and  loved  him.  The  editor  of  the  Manchester 
(Ohio)  Democrat  thus  attests  the  truth  of  these  declarations  : — 

"  When  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  one  of  the  editors  and  pro 
prietors  of  the  Dayton  Ledger,  more  than  two  years  ago,  we 
were  employed  on  that  paper,  and  met  him  almost  every  day. 
We  have  therefore  perhaps  had  a  better  opportunity  of  an  ac 
quaintance  with  the  man's  private  life  and  social  disposition 
than  any  of  our  cotemporaries  in  this  portion  of  the  State. 
From  personal  knowledge  we  can  say  that  a  more  upright, 
noble  and  honorable  private  life  can  be  accredited  to  no  man. 
At  home,  his  worst  political  enemies  were  often  his  devoted 
personal  friends.  His  almost  unparalleled  colloquial  powers 
made  him  always  companionable,  and  his  attractive  manners 
and  easy  conversation  won  the  friendship  of  his  opponents.  To 
meet  him  was  to  become  his  friend  at  once.  It  has  been  said 
that  Vallandigham  was  unpopular.  However  this  may  be, 
where  he  was  best  known  he  was  best  liked.  No  one  could 
know  him  personally  and  be  his  enemy.  He  was  no  respecter 
of  persons,  and  would  converse  with  as  much  interest  with  the 
poor  man  as  with  the  rich  —  he  respected  the  high  and  the  low 
alike.  Possibly  this  was  the  secret  of  his  popularity  at  home. 
His  ambitions  and  aspirations  were  all  of  the  most  elevated 
character,  and  his  thoughts  were  of  the  loftiest  order.'7 

Similar  is  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Dunifer,  of  the  Germantown 
Dollar  Times.  He  says  : — 

"  We  personally,  intimately  knew  him  as  a  loving  friend,  a 
kind  and  courteous  preceptor.  We  entered  his  office  as  a 
student,  and  the  many  acts  of  kindness  and  fatherly  advice  en 
deared  him  to  us  as  no  other  living  man.  To  speak  of  his 
virtues,  we  would  know  not  where  to  begin  or  where  to  end,  so 
numerous  were  his  good  qualities  of  head  and  heart.  One  extra 
ordinary  trait  of  his  character  was  his  unequaled  firmness.  .  .  . 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  481 

He  never  faltered,  for  his  own  moral  courage  was  absolutely 
boundless,  and  when  he  felt  himself  to  be  right  he  was  as  un 
swerving  as  Truth  itself.  .  .  .  With  an  imposing  presence  and 
a  manner  singularly  sweet  and  gentle,  he  possessed  the  most  un 
daunted  courage.  His  sympathies  were  always  with  the  masses, 
his  memory  is  embalmed  with  their  tears/' 

The  Eev.  F.  T.  Brown,  D.  D.,  in  the  same  communication 
from  which  we  have  already  quoted,  thus  testifies  to  his  social 
qualities : — 

"  .  .  .  We  did  not  meet  again  for  seven  years,  when  I  was 
a  preacher,  and  he  was  a  rising  lawyer  and  politician.  I  had 
been  licensed  but  was  not  yet  settled,  when  quite  unexpectedly 
I  was  put  in  charge  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Dayton, 
Ohio,  to  supply  it  for  six  months  during  the  absence  of  its 
pastor.  Mr.  Vallandigham  lived  there  then,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  congregation  to  which  I  ministered.  His  wife  was  a 
member  of  the  church ;  and  some  years  later  he  also  became  a 
member.  Our  old  friendship  was  renewed,  and  we  had  some 
pleasant  times  together  in  his  modest  little  home.  He  was 
still  comparatively  a  poor  man,  but  lived  within  his  means,  and 
held  his  head  as  high  as  the  wealthiest  and  most  aristocratic  of 
them  all  in  that  aristocratic  place.  I  can  recall  no  particular 
memories  of  his  life  at  that  time,  except  the  general  impression 
made  on  me  that  he  was  very  ambitious,  and  was  giving  too 
much  attention  to  politics.  He  was  still  the  same  frank,  genial, 
pleasant  gentleman  and  pure-minded  man  I  had  always  known 
him." 

It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  give  some  description  of  the 
personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  never  saw  him.  An  Englishman  writing  from 
Niagara  Falls,  thus  describes  him : — 

"  A  more  thorough  gentleman  in  manner,  appearance,  and 
language  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find ;  certainly  it  would  be 
difficult  to  get  many  such  among  those  who  assail  him  so  bit 
terly.  He  is  a  man  of  medium  height  and  build,  fresh  in 

31 


482  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

complexion  —  that  freshness  which  betokens  health  —  and 
exceedingly  intelligent-looking,  without  that  massiveness  of 
brain  which  frequently,  though  not  always,  accompanies  great 
intellectual  power.  Exceedingly  amiable  in  disposition,  he  is 
respected  by  all  who  know  him.  Refined  in  manner  arid  lan 
guage,  he  impresses  you  on  the  instant  as  few  American  poli 
ticians  impress  you.  Were  I  to  describe  him  in  a  word,  not 
knowing  his  native  country,  I  would  say  he  was  an  English 
gentleman  of  good  education  and  training,  of  great  probity, 
and  much  more  than  an  average  share  of  ability  and  political 
acquirements.  A  schemer,  even  in  politics,  I  could  not  con 
ceive  him  to  be." 

But  perhaps  the  most  concise  and  accurate  personal  de 
scription  of  him  is  the  following  from  a  Southern  paper, 
written  in  May  1863  :— 

"Whilst  in  Shelby ville,  I  seized  the  opportunity  of  seeing 
Mr.  Vallandigham.  Without  impertinently  intruding  upon 
that  distinguished  man,  I  heard  him  converse  for  an  hour  or 
so  upon  one  topic  and  another.  His  manner  has  nothing 
studied  or  affected ;  he  speaks  without  effort  or  hesitation,  and 
his  face  bears  a  permanent  expression  of  good-humor  and 
friendship.  His  eyes  are  blue,  full,  and  look  right  into  yours ; 
and  whilst  they  beam  with  vivacity  and  intelligence,  there  is  an 
earnest  honesty  in  them  which  has  won  your  regard  and  admi 
ration  before  you  know  it.  His  complexion  is  florid,  his  nose 
rather  hooked  (Roman),  chin  and  lips  well  chiseled  and  firm, 
teeth  strong  and  white ;  hair  and  whiskers  dark  chestnut  and 
close  trimmed ;  height  about  five  feet  ten ;  his  frame  is 
robust,  compact,  and  graceful.  Altogether  he  is  certainly  a 
man  of  extraordinary  mental  and  physical  vigor;  of  great 
natural  abilities  improved  by  cultivation,  combining  impulse 
with  deliberation,  and  enthusiasm  with  remorseless  determina 
tion  of  purpose." 

The  following  letters  show  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  a 
loving  husband  and  a  fond  father  —  clearly  indicate  that 
though  called  a. man  of  '  iron  mould/  he  had  a  very  warm  and 
.affectionate  heart : —  » 


LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM.         483 

"  NEW  YORK  HOTEL,  NEW  YOEK  CITY, 

"June  1st,  1862. 

"  My  Very  Dear  Wife :  —  Just  opposite  my  window  I  see 
through  the  glass  a  most  charming  sight  —  a  little  boy,  just 
about  Charlie's  age  and  size,  neatly  dressed,  and  bright-eyed 
and  with  a  bright  glowing  face,  is  kissing  his  mother  who  stoops 
down  that  he  may  reach  her.  Both  are  standing  by  the 
window  looking  out  upon  the  rain.  Now  she  stoops  down 
not  quite  low  enough,  and  he  jumps  up,  over  and  over  again, 
and  kisses  her,  and  now  she  puts  her  arm  round  his  little  neck 
and  hugs  him  fast.  How  sweet  a  picture !  and  yet  to  me  how 
saddening  too,  for  my  dear  darling  little  man  and  his  dear 
mother  are  far  away.  I  am  homesick,  homesick  —  a  disease 
not  treated  of  in  the  medical  books  or  recognised  by  the 
faculty.  And  yet  it  is  a  sore  and  wearisome  malady,  and  for 
it  there  is  neither  balm  nor  physician.  '  'Tis  home  where'er 
the  heart  is/  and  my  heart  is  in  my  Dayton  home.  As  I 
advance  in  the  vale  of  years,  blessed  be  God  it  becomes  dearer 
to  me ;  and  as  I  am  tried  in  the  fiery  ordeal  of  this  terrible 
Revolution,  and  they  begin  to  call  me  a  man  of  '  iron  mould/ 
thank  God  again,  the  tenderer  my  heart  becomes.  So  I  pray 
may  it  ever  be.  My  friends  who  have  never  seen  me  think 
me  an  elderly  man  of  large  frame  and  stern  aspect,  and  my 
enemies  something  less  only  than  a  monster.  How  little  they 
dream  how  young  I  am,  and  how  that  my  heart  melts  and 
tears  flow  from  my  eyes  as  if  I  were  a  woman  many  and 
many  a  time,  as  the  Angel  of  Sadness  troubles  the  pool  of 
sorrow  or  affection.  Be  it  so;  u  after  some  time  be  past' 
they  may  understand  me  better." 

To  his  son  Charlie,  eight  years  old : — 

"WASHINGTON  CITY,  Dec.  16,  1862. 
"  My  Very  Dear,  Darling  Little  Boy  :• —  I  received  both  of 
your  letters.  They  pleased  me  so  much.  I  am  sometimes, 
indeed  every  day,  very  homesick.  It  is  a  hard  thing  for  me  to 
be  separated  from  mother  and  you  so  long ;  but  public  duty 
requires  it.  When  you  grow  up  you  will  wonder  at  the 
strange  times  in  which  your  father  lived  and  acted.  I  want 
you  to  go  on  with  your  studies.  Read  and  write  slowly  and 
accurately.  Make  your  letters  all  well  formed.  Take  your 


484  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

time  to  it.  Draw  slowly  too.  I  will  send  you  some  specimens ; 
also  a  copy-book.  But  above  all,  be  a  good  boy.  Obey  your 
mother ;  be  gentle  and  kind  to  all  around  you.  Be  honorable ; 
be  just.  My  dear  boy,  your  papa  cannot  tell  you  how  much 
he  loves  you,  so  do  nothing  to  grieve  him.  Give  much  love 
to  mother  and  aunty,  and  all.  Good-bye,  and  may  God  bless 
you,  my  darling  boy.  Most  affectionately, 

"  YOUR  FATHER." 

The  following  interesting  scenes  in  the  social  and  domestic 
life  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  are  from  the  pen  of  his  cousin,  Mrs. 
Lila  Laird  Egbert,  wife  of  Dr.  Augustus  R.  Egbert,  of 
the  United  States  Army.  Her  father,  the  Rev.  Robert  M. 
Laird,  was  a  brother  of  Mr.  Vallandigham's  mother : — 

"  My  recollections  of  my  cousin  Clement  begin  in  my  early 
childhood.  I  was  only  a  little  girl  when  he  came  to  our  home 

in  C ,  Pennsylvania,  stopping  for  a  few  days  with  us  on  his 

way  from  Maryland.  It  was  a  gloomy  autumn  evening  long- 
ago,  but  I  remember  well  how  much  brightness  and  life  seemed 
to  have  come  in  with  the  blithe,  handsome  young  student  as  we 
sat  round  the  fire  together.  He  was  so  young  then, '  life's  morn 
ing  march ?  lay  all  before  him,  and  his  heart  was  full  of  faith 
and  hope.  I  can  see  my  cousin  as  he  looked  then,  erect  and 
graceful  in  figure,  the  dark  hair  swept  back  from  his  brow  so 
high  and  white,  his  eyes  a  deep  clear  blue,  his  cheeks  lit  with 
beautiful  bloom,  and  his  whole  countenance  beaming  with  ex 
pression  and  intelligence.  ' Such  a  bright  face!'  said  my  grand 
mother,  who  was  given  to  be  rather  critical ;  '  your  cousin  has 
indeed  a  "morning  face,"  no  shadows  upon  it.' 

"  Just  as  I  wrote  the  above  sentence  my  eyes  fell  upon  a 
little  picture  of  Clement  which  is  near  me,  a  likeness  of  him 
taken  in  later  years,  when  life  had  become  a  conflict,  and  he 
had  girded  on  his  armor  and  proved  himself  '  a  hero  in  the 
strife/  This  is  not  quite  the  '  morning  face7  with  which  my 
cousin  rises  from  f  the  sea  of  remembrance  '  as  I  think  of  that 
long-ago  autumn  visit;  there  are  shadows  on  it  now,  yet  they 
are  'but  the  shadows  which  set  forth  the  brightness  of  the  noon/ 
The  light  of  the  eyes  is  as  beautiful  and  true  as  ever,  and  faith 
and  courage,  tried,"  matured,  are  in  their  depths;  the  brow  is 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  485 

more  thoughtful,  and  round  the  mouth  are  lines  of  resolution 
and  earnestness,  telling  of  contests  fought  and  won.  It  is  a 
noble,  good  face,  the  face  of  one  who  was  not  afraid  'to  do  the 
right,  and  do  it  like  a  man/ 

"But  this  is  a  digression,  and  I  resume  my  memories. 
During  that  visit,  so  full  of  sunny  hours,  I  learned  to  know, 
child  as  I  was,  the  charm  of  my  cousin's  sympathy.  He  was 
never  indifferent  to  my  sister  and  myself.  Our  childish 
thoughts  and  hopes  never  wearied  him,  and  he  entered  into  our 
amusements  with  a  zest  which  made  him  perfectly  delightful 
to  us.  He  had  hopes  and  plans  for  the  future,  and,  as  I  long 
afterward  learned,  much  at  that  very  time  to  occupy  and  press 
upon  his  mind,  but  he  would  not  let  that  mar  the  holiday  we 
all  were  having.  He  would  not  send  away  the  two  little  girls 
who  climbed  on  his  chair  and  hung  around  him,  eagerly  claim 
ing  his  time  and  attention,  and  '  for  the  nonce '  he  made  him 
self  a  merry-hearted  boy.  But  I  remember  how  earnest  he 
could  be  then,  and  ( pass  from  gay  to  grave 7  when  the  occasion 
came.  One  evening,  just  at  the  close  of  a  grand  frolic,  chest 
nut-roasting  at  the  glowing  open  fire,  J.  M came  in  to 

talk  with  Clement.  He  was  also  a  young  law-student,  and 
much  interested  in  politics,  and  very  soon  the  two  drifted  upon 
that  subject.  Of  course  I  remember  nothing  of  their  talk, 
excepting  this  (and  I  never  could  forget  it).  J.  said  in  reply  to 
some  remark  Clement  had  made,  'Well,  I  shall  be  a  politician 
just  so  far  as  it  will  bring  me  in  "  the  loaves  and  fishes,"  and 
I  shall  trim  my  sails  accordingly,  and  float  with  the  smoothest 
current/  with  something  else  to  that  effect.  Clement  sprang 
to  his  feet,  his  blue  eyes  flashing  and  the  color  deepening  in 
his  cheek.  'I  too/  he  said  in  a  deep  low  voice,  'shall  be  a  poli 
tician  ;  but  I  shall  be  a  patriot,  God  helping  me,  and  true  to 
my  conscience  and  to  principle.  Yes,  I  would  rather  lose  favor 
and  riches  a  hundredfold  than  lose  my  honesty  and  honor.7 
How  grand  and  roused  he  looked  when  he  said  that,  his  eyes 
beaming,  his  whole  face  eloquent  with  noble  indignation  !  I 
watched  him  almost  in  awe,  but  admiring  his  brave,  true  words, 
though  J.  laughed  and  said  something  about e  all  that  being 
romance  which  time  would  cure/  And  were  those  impassioned 
words  but  the  utterance  of  '  a  romance '  which  time  was  to 
cure?  Let  my  cousin's  record  answer.  I  was  but  a  child  when 
I  heard  him  speak  them,  and  I  have  lived  to  see  them  proved, 


486  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

I  have  read  their  fulfilment.  Through  shadow  and  storm,  fierce 
trials  and  conflicts  abounding,  he  stood  'true  to  conscience  and 
to  principle/  The  young  student  who  spoke  out  so  nobly  in 
the  little  fire-side  circle  that  long-gone  autumn  evening,  made 
each  word  sure  and  good  in  after-life.  In  his  grand,  brave 
manhood  his  heart  did  but  beat  to  its  ancient  early  faith  when 
he  said,  '  Do  right  and  trust  to  God,  and  truth,  and  the  people  ; 
perish  office,  perish  honors,  perish  life  itself,  but  do  the  thing 
that  is  right,  and  do  it  like  a  man.'  .  .  . 

"  It  was  several  months  after  my  cousin  Clement's  visit  to 
C.  that  I  formed  the  design  of  writing  to  him.  My  mother 
did  not  encourage  me.  I  was  so  young,  and  she  thought  a 
child's  letter  could  not  interest  a  young  man  just  becoming  im 
mersed  in  his  profession.  Still,  when  she  found  I  was  so  much 
in  earnest,  she  consented.  I  had  to  put  a  great  book  upon  the 
chair  to  make  me  high  enough  for  the  writing-desk ;  and  armed 
with  a  new  pen  and  a  tiny  sheet  of  paper,  I  wrote  my  first 
letter  to  Clement.  It  was  a  foolish  little  epistle,  written  in  a 
stiff,  unformed  hand,  and  full  of  childish  fancies  and  expres 
sions.  My  mother  smiled  as  she  read  it,  and  told  me  '  not  to 
expect  a  reply,  it  was  hardly  possible  one  would  come/  But 
my  letter  was  sent,  and  despite  the  warnings  of  my  family,  who 
laughed  at  '  little  L.  and  her  letter/  I  did  expect  a  reply,  and 
it  came.  My  first  letter !  how  proud  I  was  of  it,  and  well  I 
might  be !  It  was  beautiful ;  so  full  of  kindness,  tenderness, 
and  most  loving  appreciation  of  my  poor,  queer  little  letter, 
with  pleasant  bits  of  wisdom  here  and  there,  and  closing  with 
these  words :  f  And  now  as  you  are  the  very  first  young  lady 
who  has  ever  been  kind  enough  to  write  to  me,  I  propose  the 
correspondence  shall  continue,  not  for  a  time,  or  times,  but 
always.  Who  can  tell  how  much  we  may  help  each  other  ? 
You  can  write  me  of  your  studies,  and  I  will  aid  you  in  them 
where  I  can;  and  when  I  get  "blue,"  and  tired  of  musty  law- 
books,  and  "life's  jarring  round/'  I  shall  look  to  your  simple 
and  affectionate  letters  to  amuse  and  cheer  me — as  I  know  they 
will  if  they  are  only  like  this,  bright  with  the  promise  of  a 
silk  watch-chain  ivhen  you  learn  the  stitch,  and  a  velvet  heart 
pin-cushion,  and  graphic  with  such  stirring  adventures  as  your 
sledding  frolic.'  I  knew  my  cousin  was  laughing  at  me,  but 
his  letter  was  so  good  and  kind  I  could  not  fail  to  answer  it, 
and  so  began  our  correspondence,  full  of  interest  and  benefit  to 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  487 

me  —  yes,  ever  counted  as  one  of  the  good  gifts  of  my  life. 
I  think  of  my  dear  cousin's  kindness  with  deepest  affection^ 
Few  men  indeed,  immersed  in  business  as  Clement  was,  aujjr 
with  life's  cares  gathering  round  them,  would  do  as  he  did, 
take  the  time  and  thought  to  write  long  replies  to  the  crude 
childish  letters  of  a  little  girl.  Ever  trying  to  help  me  and 
lead  me  onward  as  I  grew  up,  he  was  my  patient,  dear,  wise 
counsellor.  I  owe  my  cousin  much  for  his  faithful,  never 
failing  interest  in  my  mental  culture.  His  letters  always  did 
me  good ;  arid  it  was  of  no  light  importance  to  a  fatherless, 
brotheiiess,  inexperienced  girl  as  I  was,  to  share  from  child 
hood  the  correspondence  and  counsels  of  Clement  L.  Yallandig- 
ham.  I  will  give  you  an  extract  from  one  of  those  valued 
letters ;  they  are  all  so  wise  and  beautiful,  it  is  like  '  choosing 
gems  where  all  are  goodly/  This  was  written  soon  after  I  left 
school,  and  was  to  me  indeed  'words  fitly  spoken — apples  of 
gold  ia  pictures  of  silver ; : 

" f  You  have  written  and  spoken  much  of  Miss ,  admir 
ing  her  with  all  the  warmth  of  a  youthful  enthusiastic  nature. 

I  know  Miss ,  and  esteem  her  a  very  graceful  writer;  but 

my  dear  young  cousin,  if  you  would  seek  a  model,  look  higher. 
Look  to  the  Cornelias  and  Portias  of  remote  times,  the  noble 
women  whose  names  live  on-  the  page  of  history.  Amongst 
them,  "  shining  as  a  fair  star  of  no  fitful  light,"  is  Lady  Rachel 
Russel.  She  was  fearless  and  brave  in  duty's  path ;  yet  the 
gentler  feminine  graces,  without  which  a  woman  is  not  true  to 
herself  and  to  her  God,  were  hers.  She  was  a  patriot,  and 
what  is  far  more,  she  was  a  Christian.  Get  her  life  and  letters 
and  read  them.  Her  character  is  perhaps  one  of  the  finest  on 
record.  Indeed,  my  clear  L.,  I  am  your  brother ;  and  with  your 
self,  I  very  greatly  regret  I  cannot  be  more  with  you  to  assist 
you  in  your  studies,  and  to  give  the  mite  of  my  experience  to 
aid  in  your  guidance.  I  will  send  you  ere  long  a  list  of  some 
books  I  would  like  you  to  read.  Just  now  I  write  in  haste,  and 
shall  only  give  a  few  general  words  of  advice.  Read  history, 
biography,  works  of  travel,  and  of  standard  fiction,  both  prose 
and  poetry :  but  above  all  read  and  study  the  Bible ;  it  is  the 
wisest,  purest  book  for  any  human  heart  to  search.  As  to 
novels,  more  of  them  again ;  but  flee  '  red  and  yellow  backed 
literature/  sensational  trash,  as  you  would  the  plague.  I  would 
like  you  to  read  history  much ;  it  is  one  of  the  most  liberalising 


488  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

of  all  studies  in  its  action  upon  the  mind  and  soul,  for  it  is  the 
record  of  men  and  events  remote,  and  free  in  a  great  degree 
jfcom  the  prejudice  and  the  selfish  influence  of  present  interest 
and  times.  Acquaint  yourself  well  with  the  history  of  your 
own  country ;  its  pages  are  bright  with  heroism  and  noble 
deeds.  Every  woman  should  be  a  patriot,  though  not  a  par 
tisan  ;  and  I  am  glad  to  see  you  feel  this.  Though  your  school 
days  are  ended,  your  studies  are  not  over;  they  are  just  begin 
ning.  Do  not  say  you  have  "  no  time ; "  there  is  always  time 
and  a  way  for  what  a  resolute  will  undertakes.  But  you  must 
learn  to  economise  your  time,  and  divide  it  so  wisely  that  one 
thing  may  be  done  at  a  time,  and  this  will  make  you  thorough 
in  all  you  do.  Forgive  me  if  I  seem  in  a  "  mood  monitory  " 
this  morning;  but  we  be  of  one  blood,  my  cousin,  and  I  am 
the  older  of  the  two,  and  have  studied  the  world  and  the 
tilings  of  the  world  more,  though  I  trust  not  "  loved  them  too 
well."' 

"  I  here  close  this  extract  to  give  you  from  my  '  written 
treasures '  another  quotation,  though  in  a  different  vein,  ,and 
Written  in  later  years.  You,  my  dear  cousin,  whose  heart  lay 
so  near  our  dear  Clement,  knew  well  his  deep  true  love  for 
nature,  and  shared  it  too,  I  may  add  —  and  you  will  enjoy  his 
eloquent  beautiful  utterances,  as  he  says : 

" '  To  your  "  Woodland  Musings  "  my  heart  responds  most 
cordially.  Life  and  its  conflicts  cannot  chill  my  warm  true 
love  for  nature.  Did  I  tell  you  of  the  beautiful  views  of 
Switzerland  my  friend  Mr.  B.  had  brought  back  with  him  ? 
They  are  unusually  fine.  In  leisure  moments  I  -delight  to 
linger  over  them,  feeling  deeply  all  their  charm.  And  yet  they 
are  only  pictures.  How  I  long  to  see  the  grand  originals !  I 
love  the  mountains ;  they  elevate  and  transport  me,  and  "  seem 
a  part  of  me,  and  of  my  being."  I  love  wild  scenery ;  the 
jutting  precipice,  the  foaming  torrent,  the  elevated  fir-tree 
and  the  lofty  pines  ever  pointing  upward ;  and  I  love  the 
peaceful  valley-lands,  over  which  the  blue  sky  seems  to  lean 
tenderly,  where  the  little  grasses  and  the  ferns  rejoice,  and 
where  the  silver  brook  makes  sweet  music  as  it  strays  through, 
enameled  meadows  to  old  ocean.  It  was  a  happy,  a  divine 
thought  to  place  Adam  in  a  garden,  a  sort  of  "  park,"  such  as 
Eden  must  have  been.  "We  have  a  sweet  little  home  here ;  as 
I  wrote  to  a  friend  the  other  day,  it  looks  like  an  "  Egerian 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  489 

grot "  nestling  amongst  the  trees  and  flowers.  Still  it  is  not 
quite  the  country  —  the  country,  blest  of  God,  loved  by 
angels,  and  made  for  man,  cultivated  man's  special  solace  and 
delight.  My  heart  longs  to  dwell  in  its  peaceful  beauty. 
Well,  if  I  ever  should  attain  my  "  three-score  and  ten,"  and 
part  at  least  of  my  dreams  for  the  future  be  happily  realised, 
how  delighted  I  shall  be  "  in  shades  like  these,"  "  to  crown  a 
youth  of  labor  with  an  age  of  ease."  But  just  now  ?  Alas  ! 
I  am  poor  and  busy  —  and,  "Barbee  vs.  Giles,"  and  "Telfourd 
vs.  Morning  Star,"  "  soon  sank  the  spark  immortal,"  for  we  must 
live  and  work,  and  sometimes  let  the  gentler  visions  sleep  — 
only  sleep,  for  a  man  may  be  "  diligent  in  business,"  yet  keep  his 
heart  true  to  nature's  loveliness  and  her  great  Creator's  glory.' 

"  I  will  give  no  more  extracts :  where  all  are  so  beautiful, 
how  can  I  choose  ?  Nor  must  I  linger  over  delightful  meet 
ings  along  life's  journey.  The  memory  of  'a  summer  of 
summers  '  rises  before  me  when  we  were  all  gathered  together 
at  old  '  Hazlewood,'  and  Clement's  coining  and  his  dear 
presence  placed  the  crown  upon  our  happiness  and  made  our 
joy  complete. 

"Amongst  my  golden  memories  of  the  past  is  his  last  visit 
to  C.  before  my  marriage.  Though  brief  indeed,  it  was  rich  with 
goodly  calk  and  loving  counsels,  the  remembrance  of  which 
is  with  me  as  a  blessing.  Clement  was  the  older  of  the  two, 
and  had  then  been  married  many  years,  and  his  warm  heart 
with  its  quick  sympathy  fully  read  my  hopes  and  feelings  as 
I  stood  upon  the  threshold  of  a  new  life.  He  had  not  then 
met  Dr.  E.,  but  he  knew  him  through  me.  His  heart  was 
warm  towards  him  for  my  sake,  and  he  was  so  earnest  for  our 
happiness.  How  wisely  and  tenderly  he  talked :  those  good 
affectionate  counsels,  could  I  ever  forget  them  ?  Ah,  I  have 
loved  to  trace  the  course  of  their  influence  in  my  most  happy 
married  life.  I  have  told  my  cousin  this  more  than  once,  and 
I  think  it  not  unfitting  to  write  it  here. 

"  I  have  once  before  spoken  of  Clement's  sympathy  as  I 
knew  it  in  my  childhood ;  but  in  later,  graver  years  for  us  both, 
I  proved  its  depth  and  sincerity.  That  beautiful  unselfish 
sympathy,  it  ever  shone  so  brightly  in  his  character !  When 
public  life  pressed  on  him,  and  each  hour  was  filled  with  occu 
pation  and  care,  he  never  ceased  to  sympathise  with  his  friends. 
His  heart  never  lost  its  warm  tender  interest,  its  sunny  trust. 


490     LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM. 

He  was  truly  brave.  His  courage  was  sublime  in  its  faith 
and  lofty  calmness,  for  he  knew  no  fear;  he  had  no  care  but  to 
do  right  and  be  true.  But  though  unfaltering  courage  and 
firmness  '  kept  the  portals  of  his  soul/  it  glowed  with  every 
generous,  gentle  sentiment.  Each  shadow  which  swept  over 
his  path,  though  it  deepened  the  resolution  of  his  spirit, 
could  not  change  its  sweetness  and  its  generosity. 

"  I  recall  with  peculiar  satisfaction  a  visit  from  my  cousin 
Clement  one  summer's  day,  when  he  came  up  to  B.  from  the 
city.  He  was  tired,  and  heartily  glad  to  be  with  us  once  more. 
As  he  much  needed  rest,  no  visitors  were  admitted  that  after 
noon  and  evening,  and  we  spent  some  delightful  hours  in  my 
mother's  quiet  room' — Clement  on  the  sofa,  and  my  sister's 
little  ones  about  him,  for  he  dearly  loved  '  the  small  people.7 
'  This  is  what  I  like/  he  said,  'just  in  a  circle  of  true  hearts, 
among  my  "own  kin,"  "the  world  forgetting,  by  the  \vor Id 
forgot/7  and  all  its  dust  and  noise  left  outside.  This  quiet  and 
rest  refreshes  my  spirit.7  He  was  charming  as  ever  with  genial 
talk  and  loving  interest,  and  we  enjoyed  every  moment  of  that 
cherished  visit.  I  remember  the  next  day  as  we  walked  down 
the  wide  paths  in  the  old  garden  at  B.,  Clement  said  to  me, 
and  this  was  after  storms  of  fierce  and  bitter  injustice  had 
swept  over  him,  '  I  have  almost  had  "  life's  life  lied  away.77  I 
have  suffered  cruel  wrongs,  and  fought  against  an  antagonism 
heated  seven  times.  It  has  made  me  stern,  and  roused  all  the 
defiance  of  my  nature ;  but  I  pray  God  it  may  never  harden 
and  embitter  my  heart,  never  make  me  unforgiving.7  And 
again  he  wrote  to  me,  '  Whatever  I  may  be  in  the  contest  under 
the  trumpet's  peal,  I  would  be  true  and  gentle  and  loving  in 
my  home,  among  my  own  kindred,  my  friends.  Never  would 
I  disappoint  or  chill  a  heart  which  clung  and  trusted  to  me.7 
And  was  he  not  all  this  ?  Hearts  e  who  trusted  and  clung  to 
him/  what  is  your  answer  ?  Through  my  falling  tears  I  read 

it,  and  it  is  written  in  tears,  nor  can  I  trace  it  here My 

sister  once  said  to  Clement,  '  she  regretted  that  our  meetings 
came  so  seldom,  she  wished  he  could  be  more  with  .us.7  He 
looked  up  with  his  beautiful  smile  and  replied, '  Never  mind, 
Cousin  M.,  after  awhile  we  shall  all  be  together  always  in  "  the 
leal  land.77  7  His  words  noiv  return  with  tender  promise.  For 
to  that  fair  land  he  has  already  gone,  this  '  kinsman  beloved.7 
Swiftly  summoned  from  loving  hearts,  from  many  duties  and 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  491 

many  hopes,  his  grand  true  life  suddenly  ceasing,  he  has  put 
on  ( the  robes  of  immortality/  and  entered  upon  the  grander, 
truer  life  '  which  is  in  God.?  She  whose  soul  was  bound  with 
his,  has  followed  him  with  quick  step,  '  and  the  days  of  her 
widowhood  are  forever  ended.' 

"  From  the  shadow  of  this  great  sorrow,  lonely  hearts,  look 
up !  See  through  the  mist  of  tears  the  stars  of  promise 
shine !  '  In  a  little  while  we  shall  all  be  together  always  in 
"  the  leal  land." '  In  that  hope  we  wait." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

HIS    RELIGIOUS     CHARACTER. 

A  BIOGRAPHY  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham  would  be 
incomplete,  indeed  would  be  exceedingly  defective,  without  at 
least  one  chapter  on  his  religious  character.  He  was  deeply 
imbued  with  the  religious  element :  this,  -recognised  in  a 
measure  by  all  who  were  acquainted  with  him,  was  well  known 
to  his  intimate  friends.  And  to  this  is  to  be  ascribed  that 
spotless  purity  of  his  private  life  which  even  his  enemies  con 
ceded.  His  parents,  by  both  precept  and  example,  endeavored 
to  train  him  up  in  the  right  way.  The  home  of  his  childhood 
and  youth  was  a  home  of  piety.  Every  day  the  morning  and 
evening  incense  of  prayer  and  praise  ascended  from  the  family 
altar.  The  Sabbath  was  a  holy  day :  in  attendance  on  the 
sanctuary,  and  in  the  reading  of  the  Bible  and  religious  books 
and  papers,  all  its  hours  were  spent.  Nor  were  they  wearisome 
hours :  in  after-years  he  often  referred  to  these  Sabbath  scenes 
as  those  on  which  memory  delighted  to  dwell.  But  though 
deeply  imbued  with  the  religious  spirit,  he  never  obtruded  his 
views  on  others,  nor  did  he  make  an  ostentatious  display  of 
his  religious  feelings.  He  made  no  parade  of  his  piety :  it 
was  "  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart."  In  a  letter  to  his  brother, 
which  will  hereafter  appear,  he  says : .  "  I  am  not  used  to  feel 
the  tender  emotions  of  the  soul  in  public  crowds.  I  am  a 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  493 

quiet  man  in  my  feelings,  and  it  is  only  in  the  solitude 
and  retiracy  of  my  closet  that  they  flow  out  in  genial  gushing 
streams,  or  among  a  few  select  and  well-tried  friends  and  the 
bosom  of  my  family." 

Nor  was  he  a  bigot :  no  one  ever  heard  him  utter  an  unkind 
word  of  any  religious  denomination.  Though  a  Protestant, 
he  had  many  friends  among  Catholics  to  whom  he  was  warmly 
attached.  In  the  Jews  he  evinced  a  remarkable  interest,  and 
on  several  occasions  when  their  rights  seemed  to  be  ignored  or 
overlooked,  he  stood  up  in  their  maintenance  and  defence. 

In  the  following  letters  his  Christian  character  will  be 
exhibited  in  a  light  which  will,  we  think,  be  highly  gratifying 
to  his  pious  friends.  To  his  brother,  the  Rev.  James  L.  Val- 
landigham,  he  thus  writes : — 

DAYTON,  Ohio,  Aug.  21,  1854. 

"  My  Dear  Brother :  —  Your  congratulations  on  the  birth 
of  my  son  are  very  gratifying,  and  I  fervently  unite  with  you 
in  your  prayer  for  his  life  and  usefulness.  All  this  is  in  the 
hands  of  Divine  Providence ;  but  I  fed  as  if  he  will  live,  and 
be  an  ornament  and  solace  to  my  declining  years.  I  shall  do 
my  part  tenderly  but  with  the  utmost  faithfulness,  sparing,  by 
the  favor  of  God,  nothing  in  precept  or  by  example  to 
develop,  cultivate  and  direct  aright  and  to  the  highest  per 
fection  his  physical,  moral  and  intellectual  faculties 

The  accidents  of  childhood  are  very  many,  and  I  sometimes 
feel  sorely  anxious  when  I  look  forward  to  the  months  and 
years  yet  to  come.  But  I  have  much  faith,  and  await  with 
patience  also  the  providence  of  Him  who  doeth  all  things  well. 
How  admirable  and  how  comforting  is  the  doctrine  of  faith ! 
If  religion  were  a  fable,  how  profound  the  knowledge  of 
human  nature  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Apostle  who  prescribes  it 
as  a  cardinal  point  in  the  Christian's  creed !  Though  unhappily 
myself  but  an  unregenerate  man,  I  have  from  earliest  boyhood 
been  sustained  and  soothed  amid  a  thousand  dangers  and  per 
plexities  by  this  also,  the  anchor  of  the  soul  sure  and  steadfast. 


494  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

And  the  longer  I  live  amid  the  fearful  incertitudes  which,  the 
the  farther  we  advance,  still  more  on  every  hand  surround  us, 
the  more  do  I  find  this  precious  doctrine  —  among  the  earliest 
which  I  learned  from  our  dear  mother's  lips  —  to  be  above 
all  price." 

Such  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  faith  and  such 
recognition  of  Divine  Providence  are  frequently  to  be  found  in 
his  correspondence  with  his  relatives  and  intimate  friends. 

The  letter,  however,  in  which  his  religious  views  and  feel 
ings  are  most  fully  portrayed  is  that  of  Feb.  8, 1855,  addressed 
to  the  same  brother.  A  few  months  before,  a  revival  of 
religion  of  great  power  had  occurred  in  the  charge  of  that 
brother,  who  was  pastor  of  the  churches  of  White  Clay  Creek, 
Head  of  Christiana,  and  New  Ark,  in  the  State  of  Delaware, 
resulting  in  an  addition  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  to 
the  membership  of  the  Church.  He  had  heard  reports  of  this 
revival,  felt  deeply  interested  in  it,  and  it  is  to  it  he  refers  in 
his  letter. 

"DAYTON,  February  8,  1855. 

"My  Very  Dear  Brother: — The  paper  on  which  I  write 
was  laid  aside  for  that  purpose  yesterday;  and  this  morning  my 
design  is  quickened  and  made  the  more  easy  of  accomplish 
ment  by  the  receipt  of  your  timely  and  most  welcome  letter  of 
February  the  3d.  From  cousin  Lila's  kind  and  affectionate 
letter  of  December,  and  also  while  at  Lisbon,  I  learned  of  the 
signal  blessing  which  has  been  poured  out  in  overflowing 
abundance  upon  your  labors  in  the  ministry.  Most  heartily 
am  I  rejoiced  for  your  sake.  Your  years  of  labor  and  self- 
denial  and  affliction  in  the  things  of  this  life  have  been  at 
length  rewarded,  not  with  jewels  from  the  mines  of  earth, 
but  with  gems  precious  as  is  the  worth  of  many  souls,  and 
which  shall  shine  in  your  coronet  forever — bright,  not  as  the 
sun,  but  as  that  light  which  radiates  from  the  presence  and  the 
throne  of  the  ever-living  God.  Unworthy  too  as  I  am  my 
self,  needing  more  the  mercies  of  the  Kedeemer  and  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  495 

graces  of  the  Spirit  than  any  who  have  found  pardon  and 
peace  among  you,  I  rejoice  for  their  sakes  also.  For  years  I 
have  stood  like  the  publican  of  old  'afar  off/  but  alas !  unlike 
him,  too  rarely  smiting  my  breast,  or  desiring  mercy  upon  me 
a  sinner.  Religion  has  always  been  much  in  my  thoughts ; 
the  Bible  often  my  study,  sometimes,  but  how  rarely,  my  de 
light;  its  doctrines  and  its  precepts  are  to  me  familiar  as  house 
hold  words;  attendance  upon  the  sanctuary  has  been  my 
habit,  and  I  have  even  remembered  the  Sabbath-day,  but  oh 
how  seldom  have  I  kept  it  holy  !  The  prayers  of  my  child 
hood  have  lingered  like  the  odor  of  sweet  perfume  in  my  mem 
ory;  my  mother's  yearnings  and  my  father's  precepts  have 
passed  ever  before  me  in  the  silent  watches  of  the  night.  The 
old  homestead  and  the  ancient  family-altar,  and  the  rooms 
hallowed  all  over  by  prayer,  and  the  grave  of  him  who,  while 
living,  compassed  about  as  he  was  by*poverty  and  affliction, 
yet  served  and  honored  God  with  the  constancy  and  purity 
and  firmness  of  a  martyr  and  a  saint;  and  the  calm,  mild  eyes 
and  countenance  of  her,  full  of  meekness  and  faith  and  piety, 
who  yet  lives  to  bless  and  pray  for  me,  have  fenced  me  all 
around  as  with  a  wall  of  fire,  and  guarded  me  even  when  I 
knew  and  felt  it  not.  Yet  in  all  this  have  I  not  seen  God  — 
visibly,  palpably,  seen  and  felt  him  as  my  God  and  Redeemer. 
Religion  has  ever  been  to  me  a  thing  belonging  to  the  future} 
a  something  some  day  to  be  sought  after,  certainly  to  be  sought 
after,  but  —  to-morrow.  That  morrow  never  came  :  there  was 
no  such  thing  in  all  God's  creation  to  come :  and  I  knew  and 
realised  it  not  these  many  years,  fool  that  I  was.  To-morrow 
was  ever  one  day  in  advance.  Yesterday,  this  day  was  the 
morrow.  It  came,  but  it  was  no  longer  the  morrow,  but  TO 
DAY,  with  all  its  terribleness,  and  it  was  all  that  belonged  to 
me.  And  yet  hardened  I  my  heart;  and  having  eyes,  saw  not, 
and  claiming  intelligence,  realised  not  so  plain  a  truth.  But 
I  bless  God  that  for  some  time  past,  unconsciously  at  first, 
almost  without  my  consent  till  it  was  too  late  to  resist,  I  have 
been  drawn,  I  know  not  how  —  not  by  power  nor  by  might,  else 
my  proud  spirit  had  rebelled,  but  by  easy  and  insensible  ap 
proaches — I  dare  not  say  by  grace — to  think  more  and  more  of 
the  great  concern,  the  future  of  the  immortal  part  of  my  nature. 
Not  in  the  earthquake  and  the  storm  and  the  rending  of  tKe 
rocks,  but  in  the  midst  of  health,  and  mercies  and  blessings 


496  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

more  in  number  than  the  hairs  of  my  head,  a  still,  small  voice 
has  whispered  day  and  night,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  solitude 
and  amid  the  cares  and  anxieties  of  business,  the  hour  is  come, 
the  accepted  time,  the  convenient.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life 
I  have  listened,  unwittingly  in  the  beginning,  cheerfully, 
pleasurably  now,  to  these  whisperings.  What  it  is  that  has 
moved  me  I  know  not :  I  have  never  felt  before  as  I  now  do 
feel ;  and  for  the  first  time  in  four-and-thirty  years  of  a  life 
time  of  carelessness  and  sin,  I  am  RESOLVED  by  God's  grace 
and  assistance,  not  my  own  —  I  am  nothing,  less  than  nothing, 
and  vanity — to  make  religion  an  IMMEDIATE  PERSONAL,  con 
cern  from  this  day  so  long  as  I  do  live.  (As  I  write  this  last 
sentence  I  hear  the  voice  of  prayer  from  a  pious  clergyman 
whose  study,  I  just  learn,  is  over  my  office  where  I  now  write. 
I  accept  the  omen,  if  the  word  be  allowable ;  if  not,  may  God 
forgive  me.)  In  all  this  I  know  I  can  of  myself  do  nothing 
save  to  ask,  seek,  and  knock,  according  to  the  Saviour's  com 
mand  and  promise.  I  have  no  self-righteousness  to  urge,  no 
merits  of  my  own,  none,  none.  These  in  the  expressive  lan 
guage  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  but  '  rags,  filthy  rags ; '  and 
if  he  was  thrust  out  who  came  to  the  feast  not  in  rags,  but 
only  without  the  '  wedding-garment/  how  should  I  hope  to 
gain  admittance  in  such  wretched  attire  ?  I  know  that  I  am 
a  sinner,  and  that  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  my  heart  (I  feel 
it  even  now  while  I  write)  are  evil  in  all  things,  and  that 
continually.  But  I  shall  ask,  seek,  and  knock  with  a  firm  but 
very  humble  reliance  on  the  merits  of  the  Saviour,  His  atone 
ment  and  intercession,  and  not  doubting  the  many  promises 
which  He  has  everywhere  given  in  all  His  word.  I  would  not 
be  over-confident.  As  yet  I  can  find  assurance  of  nothing 
about  me  except  only  the  desire  to  look  into  these  things,  and  to 
have  religion  brought  home  to  me  personally,  and  that  without 
delay.  In  the  meantime  I  would  by  God's  grace  and  assist 
ance  set  a  guard  upon  all  my  actions,  my  words,  and  that 
which  is  most  difficult  of  all,  my  thoughts,  the  very  lairs  and 
coverts  of  sin.  I  would  do  all,  speak  all,  think  all  for  the 
glory  of  God  as  my  first  and  chiefest  motive.  And  praying 
to  Him  humbly  but  fervently  as  prayer  ever  came  from 
human  lips,  first  for  pardon  of  past  sins  and  then  for  grace 
and  assistance  in  the  future,  I  do  greatly  desire  and  long  to 
henceforward  live  'soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  while  in 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  497 

this  present  world,  using  the  things  thereof  as  not  abusing 
them,  remembering  always  that  the  fashion  thereof  passeth 
away/  and  to  make  it  the  great  rule  of  my  life  to  be  diligent 
in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord.  And  may  God 
write  this  as  with  a  pen  of  iron  upon  the  tablets  of  my  heart, 
and  grant  me  grace  to  remember  and  conform  to  it  all  the  days 
of  my  appointed  time,  and  when  heart  and  flesh  fail  me,  pro 
vide  then  for  me  a  mansion  in  that  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens. 

"  Many  things  combined  while  as  yet  I  knew  it  not,  to 
bring  me  to  think  upon  this  great  subject:  association  and 
conversation  with  a  truly  excellent  and  pious  pastor,  a  young 
man  like  myself,  just  after  my  own  heart  save  in  sin,  coming 
up  to  the  full  stature  of  the  true  man  both  in  intellect  and 
soul,  and  made  in  Nature's  noblest  mould,  a  friend  and  a  com 
panion  ;  I  wish  you  knew  him,  my  dear  brother.  A  series  of 
powerful,  eloquent,  and  outspoken  sermons  upon  the  doctrines 
of  the  Bible,  calling  me  back  to  recollect  that  I  had  been  bred 
a  Calvinist,  which  I  had  forgotten  at  the  same  time  that  I 
ceased  to  remember  that  I  was  a  sinner.  The  birth  of  my 
dearly  beloved  and  only  son,  mellowing  and  softening  and  en 
larging  my  heart  till  its  waters  of  affection,  long  hidden  be 
neath  the  hardened  and  hardening  rock  of  childlessness, 
welled  up  like  streams  gushing  from  a  copious  and  perennial 
fountain.  The  interest  which  I  felt  in  the  concern  manifested 
by  my  dear  sister,  Ellen  Bell,  for  the  salvation  of  her  soul. 
The  solemn  reflection  that  of  all  my  family  I  alone  have  wor 
shipped  not  in  spirit  and  in  truth  the  God  of  my  fathers  for 
so  many  generations.  The  love  I  bear  my  dear  mother,  and 
her  meek  and  sorrowful  look  of  solicitude  and  yearning  when 
last  I  saw  her  essaying  to  speak  to  me  as  I  well  knew  on  this 
momentous  subject,  though  her  heart  failed  her  and  she  was 
silent,  but  silent  in  such  a  sort  that  pierced  through  and  through 
my  heart  deeper  and  more  powerful  than  any  words  :  these 
and  many  other  things  of  lesser  note,  all  contributed  to  turn 
my  thoughts  to  this  great  concern.  What  the  end  shall  be  I 
know  not.  PRAY  FOR  ME,  my  brother. 

"  The  wonderful  revival  in  your  charge  has  excited  great 
interest  everywhere  (indeed  I  forgot  to  enumerate  it  among 
one  of  the  chief  causes  which  have  led  me  to  think  of  religion 
as  an  immediate  personal  concern).  In  no  place  has  it  been 

32 


498  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

more  spoken  of  than  here.  Much  interest  has  been  felt  for  a 
week  or  two  past  in  this  church.  A  series  of  meetings,  salu 
tary  and  blessed  to  many,  have  been  held,  and  not  a  few  added 
to  the  church.  I  have  not  attended  these  special  meetings,  not 
so  much  for  want  of  time  (though  more  than  usually  thronged 
just  now  with  business)  —  there  is  always  time  ;  but  you  know 
my  old  prejudices,  partly  inherited,  partly  the  result  of  obser 
vation,  against  set  efforts  for  a  revival,  because  of  the  danger 
of  their  degenerating  into  mere  animal  excitement,  which  pass 
ing  away,  leaves  the  church  an  hundredfold  colder  than  before, 
and  those  who  had  been  alarmed  into  feeling,  infinitely,  miser 
ably  worse  and  nearer  perdition  than  if  they  had  never  heard 
of  the  Gospel.  I  write  to  you  freely,  my  dear  brother,  for  you 
at  least  will  not  misinterpret  me.  I  believe,  however,  that  in 
your  churches  it  was  a  power  from  on  high  —  nothing  less 
than  the  Almighty  arm ;  and  I  know  your  views  too  well  to 
suppose  for  a  moment  that  any  mere  human  appliances  were 
resorted  to.  And  just  the  same  I  can  say  here  and  in  the  case 
of  Mr.  Brookes.  And  besides  I  am  not  used  to  feel  the  tender 
emotions  of  the  soul  in  public  crowds.  I  am  a  quiet  man  in 
my  feelings,  and  it  is  only  in  the  solitude  and  retiracy  of  my 
closet  that  they  flow  out  in  genial,  gushing  streams  —  or  among 
a  few  select,  and  well-tried  friends  and  the  bosom  of  my  family. 
But  I  may  err  in  all  this,  and  say  no  more. 

"  I  have  time  to  add  but  a  few  words  more  upon  general 
matters.  "We  rejoice  in  the  health  and  general  prosperity  of 
yourself  and  family.  "We  unite  in  cordial  and  earnest  love  to 
all.  Ellen  Bell,  who  feels  and  is  resolved  just  like  myself, 
especially  desires  to  be  remembered.  Write  to  me  immediately. 
We  are  all  well,  and  our  dear  babe  is  everything  we  could 
desire. 

"  Farewell.  Your  truly  affectionate  brother, 

"  CLEMENT. 
"  Rev.  J.  L.  Vallandigham,  New  Ark,  Delaware." 

"  P.  S. —  I  have  greatly  prospered  this  fall  in  my  profes 
sional  avocations,  and  I  bless  God  that  I  feel  now  like  laboring 
in  them  with  a  calmer  mind  and  from  yet  loftier  motives,  and 
with  more  determined  effort  than  ever,  yet  always  fervent  in 
spirit,  serving  the  Lord" 

We  have  given  this  long  letter  in  full  because  of  its  great 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  499 

value  and  importance  as  an  exposition  of  the  religious  views 
and  feelings  of  the  writer. 

A  few  days  after  he  wrote  on  the  same  subject  to  'his 
mother.  This  letter  she  immediately  sent  to  her  eldest  son 
with  this  brief  note : 

"February  16. 

"Dear  James: — I  have  read  with  much  pleasure  and 
thankfulness  your  letter  in  the  Presbyterian,*  and  pray  the 
Lord  that  you  may  still  continue  to  give  the  praise  and  glory 
of  this  great  work  to  Him  who  worketh  and  none  can  hinder. 
I  do  earnestly  pray  that  the  dear  people  may  be  steadfast  in 
the  faith,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  You 
will  perceive  from  the  letter  accompanying  this  that  I  have 
still  more  abundant  cause  of  thankfulness :  indeed  my  heart 
overflows  with  gratitude,  and  my  eyes  with  tears,  and  I  am 
continually  saying,  '  What  shall  I  render  to  the  Lord  for  all 
His  mercies  to  me?'  I  am  so  weak  I  cannot  write  more.  I 
am  just  recovering  from  a  very  bad  cold  that  has  confined  me 
to  the  house,  and  most  of  the  time  to  my  room,  for  "several 
weeks.  Your  very  affectionate 

"  MOTHER." 

The  following  is  the  letter  to  his  mother : — 

"  DAYTOX,  Feb.  12,  1855. 

"My  dearest,  dear  Mother: — If  it  were  at  all  convenient,  I 
would  with  infinite  pleasure  go  at  once  to  see  you.  I  have  ten 
thousand  things  to  say  and  to  talk  about,  of  which  time  and 
space  would  fail  me  to  write;  but  the  sum  of  all  is,  that 
whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see — and  I  feel  a  peace  and 
joy  which  the  world  never  gave,  and  which  I  know  and  am 
ASSURED  it  cannot  take  away. 

"  The  day  I  mailed  that  letter  to  you  I  erected  an  altar  to 
God  in  my  household,  and  henceforward  relying  upon  Divine 
assistance,  the  morning  and  evening  sacrifice  shall  daily  be 

offered  up  throughout  my  lifetime I  could  say  much, 

very  much ;  but  you  will  understand  me.  ~No  arm  of  flesh, 
and  least  of  all  my  own  might,  has  done  this.  But  I  have  not 
time  to  write  more  now,  as  I  am  very  busy ;  and  yet  I  do  very 

*  Giving  an  account  of  the  revival 


500  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

greatly  rejoice  that  in  the  very  midst  of  it  all,  and  while  I  am 
diligent  in  business  more  than  ever,  I  am  fervent  also  in  spirit, 
with  a  very  earnest  desire  in  all  things  to  serve  the  Lord  in 
spirit  and  in  truth,  and  with  very  humbleness  of  soul. 

"  Your  own  son, 

"  CLEMENT. 
"Mrs.  R  Vallandigham,  New  Lisbon,  Ohio." 

On  the  same  day  he  wrote  again  to  his  brother  James. 
After  referring  to  some  other  matters,  he  thus  writes : — 

"As  to  that  other  great  subject  of  which  I  wrote,  my  feel 
ings  are  such  as  I  could  not  portray  to  you  in  less  than  many, 
many  pages  of  paper,  or  hours  and  days  of  conversation ;  but 
the  sum  of  all  is  —  a  peace  and  joy  which  the  world  never  gave, 
and  which,  God  be  praised,  I  feel  and  am  assured  it  cannot 
take  away.  The  day  after  I  wrote  to  you  I  erected  an  altar  to 
God  in  my  own  household,  and  by  His  blessing,  the  morning 
and  evening  sacrifice  shall  daily  be  offered  up  so  long  as  I  do 
live;  and  in  a  like  spirit,  a  spirit  by  His  aid,  shall  all 
my  other  duties  be  performed.  I  feel  now  as  if  by  God's  grace 
I  were  at  length  a  WHOLE  MAN,  made  really  in  his  image,  and 
able  now  lo  do  some  good  truly  in  the  Church  and  the  world. 
Oh  that  this  exultant  glow  of  soul  might  continue !  But  you 
know  my  sole  reliance ;  and  I  hope  and  believe  it  may ;  for 
diligent  now  more  than  ever  in  business,  I  feel  yet  fervent  in 
spirit,  desiring  in  all  things  to  serve  the  Lord." 

In  the  spring  of  1855  he  united  with  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Dayton,  of  which  the  Rev.  James  H.  Brookes,  D.  D., 
was  then  pastor.  In  the  following  letter,  dated  St.  Louis, 
Sept.  14, 1871,  Dr.  Brookes  refers  to  the  events  of  that  period, 
and  gives  his  estimate  of  the  Christian  character  of  Mr.  Val 
landigham  : — 

"  Before  my  personal  acquaintance  with  him  in  the 
year  1854,  I  had  heard  of  him  as  an  able,  ambitious  and 
unscrupulous  politician.  Soon  after  my  arrival  in  Dayton 
to  take  charge  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  that  city, 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  501 

lie  called  upon  me,  but  I  received  him  with  a  coolness  to  which 
he  afterwards  pleasantly  referred,  saying  that  he  saw  at  a 
glance  the  unfavorable  impression  I  had  received  of  his  char 
acter.  Subsequently  he  told  me  frankly  and  freely  the  story 
of  his  life,  his  early  struggles,  his  hopes,  his  aims,  and  his 
fixed  purpose  to  follow  the  path  of  duty  in  his  political  career 
without  the  smallest  sacrifice  of  principle  and  without  leaving 
the  slightest  stain  upon  his  conscience.  He  did  not  profess  to 
be  indifferent  to  popular  applause,  but  ever  avowed  an 
unfaltering  determination  to  stand  alone  if  need  be,  and  if  need 
be  to  die,  in  maintaining  what  he  believed  to  be  right;  and 
often  he  would  quote  with  admiration  the  words  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey : 

'Be  just  and  fear  not: 

Let  all  the  ends  tkou  aim'st  at  be  thy  country's, 
Thy  God's,  and  truth's ;  then  if  thou  fallest,  O  Cromwell, 
Thou  fallest  a  blessed  martyr.' 

"He  was  bright  and  genial  and  winning  in  his  manner 
and  our  acquaintance  soon  ripened  into  close  and  confidential 
intimacy,  which  threw  us  together  almost  daily  when  he  was  at 
home.  I  do  not  recall  during  that  entire  period  a  .word 
that  fell  from  his  lips  which  would  have  been  unseemly  if 
uttered  in  the  presence  of  the  most  refined  lady.  No  obscenity 
nor  profanity  ever  defiled  his  tongue,  and  he  was  free  from 
what  are  called  the  '  smaller  vices/  abstaining  even  from  the 
use  of  tobacco  in  any  form. 

"  About  a  year  after  our  intimacy  commenced  he  became  a 
Christian,  and  under  circumstances  that  are  worthy  of  mention. 
A  scries  of  doctrinal  discourses  had  been  delivered  in  which 
high  Calvinistic  ground  was  taken  with  regard  to  the  absolute 
sovereignty  of  God's  electing  love  and  the  utter  depravity  and 
helplessness  of  man.  The  discourses  excited  considerable  op 
position,  and  even  on  the  part  of  some  who  were  members  of 
the  church ;  but  greatly  to  my  surprise  and  gratification,  your 
brother  announced  that  they  had  been  the  means  of  leading 
him  to  see  his  ruin  by  nature  and  his  need  of  Christ.  From 
that  time  until  I  left  Dayton  he  was  a  consistent  and  faithful 
Christian  so  far  as  I  know,  although  continually  exposed  to 
the  shafts  of  the  most  cruel  slander.  Often  have  I  known 
him  to  lead  in  public  prayer,  and  family  worship  was  main 
tained  in  his  household  up  to  the  time  of  our  separation. 


502  LIFE   OF  CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

"With  his  subsequent  religious  life  I  am  not  familiar,  save  that 
during  the  war  while  I  was  his  guest  for  two  weeks,  every 
morning  and  evening  God's  word  was  read,  and  we  kneeled 
together  in  prayer.  Only  a  few  months  since  I  received  a 
pleasant  fraternal  letter  from  him,  and  was  looking  forward  to 
a  promised  visit  to  St.  Louis,  when  he  "was  so  unexpectedly 
summoned  away  from  the  turmoils  of  earth  and  the  bitter 
strife  of  tongues.  I  send  you  this  as  a  little  wreath  I  would 
love  to  droD  in  his  grave." 

After  being  connected  with  this  church  for  some  years,  and 
promising,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Brookes,  to  be  a 
very  useful  member,  Mr.  Yallandigham  quietly  ~J  withdrew. 
The  correspondence  that  ensued  between  him  and  the  session 
of  the  church  is  in  our  possession,  but  we  do  not  deem  it 
necessary  to  publish  it.  '  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  political 
proscription  was  the  cause,  the  sole  cause  of  his  withdrawal. 
His  opinion  was  —  and  he  adhered  to  it  most  firmly,  and  as 
we  think  correctly  —  that  politics  should  be  strictly  excluded 
from  the  pulpit,  should  be  kept  entirely  out  of  the  church; 
that  the  members,  without  regard  to  the  political  sentiments 
which  they  might  respectively  hold,  should  treat  each  other 
with  Christian  courtesy,  should  love  each  other  with  fraternal 
affection,  and  that  in  the  church  at  least,  like  brethren  they 
should  "  dwell  together  in  unity/'7  That  this  withdrawal  from 
the  church  of  his  choice,  the  church  of  his  ancestors  for  many 
generations,  was  exceedingly  painful  to  him  we  know  from 
conversations  we  had  with  him  at  the  time,  and  from  letters 
now  in  our  possession  written  to  his  relatives  and  intimate 
friends. 

He  afterwards  attended,  sometimes  the  Episcopal  and  some 
times  the  Lutheran  church.  For  some  four  or  five  years  he 
sat  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  D.  Steck,  pastor  of  the  Lutheran 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  503 

church  of  Dayton,  whose  letter  containing  recollections  and 
incidents  of  that  period  we  here  present : — 

"  REV.  JAMES  L.  YALLANDIGHAM  : 

"  Dear  Brother : —  It  affords  me  sincere  pleasure  to  learn, 
as  I  do  from  your  note,  that  you  are  engaged  in  preparing  a 
biography  of  your  brother,  the  late  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham. 
You  suggest  that,  as  it  was  my  privilege  during  my  residence 
in  Dayton  to  know  him  somewhat  intimately,  I  might  have 
some  impressions  in  regard  to  his  character  to  communicate, 
with  a  view  to  aid  you  in  the  work  you  have  in  hand.  Any 
statements  bearing  upon  his  religious  character,  I  am  led  to 
believe,  would  be  especially  acceptable.  My  mind  recurs  to 
some  very  pleasant  incidents,  in  the  light  of  which  it  is  not 
difficult  to  perceive,  to  some  extent  at  least,  what  Mr.  Vallaii- 
digham  was  in  this  aspect  of  his  character. 

"My  personal  acquaintance  with  your  honored  brother 
began  in  the  fall  of  1864,  when  he  became  a  regular  attendant 
upon  the  services  of  the  church  of  which  I  was  at  that  time 
the  pastor.  I  had  known  him  previously,  but  only  in  a  gen 
eral  way,  just  as  I  knew  other  public  men.  I  remained  in 
Dayton  a  little  over  four  years  from  the  date  here  given.  During 
all  this  time  it  was  his  habit,  as  often  as  the  Lord's  day  occurred, 
to  be  in  his  place  in  the  house  of  God.  He  was  an  at 
tentive  and  deeply  interested  hearer  of  the  preached  word, 
while  his  whole  bearing  and  demeanor  during  worship  were 
so  modest,  humble,  and  devout  as  to  make  him  in  this  respect, 
as  he  was  in  many  others,  a  model  of  propriety.  Interested  as 
he  was  in  the  great  questions  which  concerned  the  public  wel 
fare,  and  engaged  as  he  often  was  in  sharp  but  manly  conflict 
with  men  holding  views  opposite  to  his  own,  yet  was  he 
not  so  absorbed  in  these  matters  but  that  he  found  time,  as  he 
also  had  the  taste,  to  attend  to  the  humbler  things  which  con 
cern  religion. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  an  excellent  theologian  as  well  as 
a  great  lawyer  and  eminent  statesman.  And  was  he  not  the 
greater  as  a  lawyer  and  statesman  because  of  his  excellence  as  a 
theologian?  He  was  well  versed  in  all  the  great  questions  which 
have  divided  Christendom,  and,  though  decided  in  his  own 
views,  lamented  as  all  good  men  do  the  bigotry  of  sectism 
and  the  babel  of  denominational  tongues.  He  was  especially 


504  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

well  versed  in  the  Bible,  a  fact  made  sufficiently  obvious  by 
the  many  graceful  and  striking  allusions  to  its  contents  ex 
hibited  in  his  speeches.  These  gems  were  mixed  up  in  the 
vast  fund  of  his  intellectual  wealth  in  such  a  way  that  they 
came  forth  spontaneously  with  the  general  current  of  his 
thought,  because  as  the  result  of  early  education  and  persever 
ing  habit  they  had  become,  so  to  speak,  a  necessary  part  of  his 
mental  being.  He  prized  the  Bible  not  only  on  account  of  its 
literary  beauties,  but  because  he  believed  it  to  be  the  Word  of 
God,  and  as  such,  the  rule  by  which  every  man  should  regulate 
his  life.  It  was  my  privilege  to  converse  with  him  very  often 
on  Scriptural  topics,  and  on  these  occasions  I  never  failed  to  be 
impressed  with  his  sincere  and  deep  reverence  for  the  Holy 
Book.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  held  by  him  in  special 
regard.  On  account  of  their  profundity  he  greatly  admired 
the  Epistles  of  Paul.  Calling  on  him  one  day  when  he  was 
at  leisure,  our  conversation  was  of  the  character  here  indicated, 
when  he  directed  my  attention  to  Paul's  exhortation  to  Chris 
tians —  they  should  'live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in 
this  present  world/  '  What  a  comprehensive  precept ! }  said  he ; 
'  it  is  an  epitome  of  man's  whole  duty  :  his  duty  to  himself— 
he  is  to  live  soberly ;  his  duty  to  his  fellowmen  —  he  is  to 
live  righteously ;  his  duty  to  his  God  —  he  is  to  live  godly/ 
It  was  a  beautiful  exposition,  and  the  simple  earnestness  with 
which  it  was  given  —  and  he  was  the  most  earnest  man  I  ever 
knew  —  fascinated  and  charmed  me  as  I  listened. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham,  as  I  knew  him,  was  a  very  correct 
man,  morally  speaking  —  a  perfect  gentleman ;  and  if  this  ex 
pression  means  no  more  than  it  ordinarily  passes  for,  much 
more  than  a  gentleman.  I  have  met  him  when  alone  ;  I  have 
sat  with  him  in  the  family  circle  at  his  own  hearth-stone;  I 
have  seen  him  in  the  social  gathering  where  he  was  '  the  ob 
served  of  all  observers;'  and  I  have,  in  a  few  instances,  met 
him  on  occasions  of  great  public  interest  and  excitement ;  and 
his  conduct  was  always  that  of  a  high-toned  gentleman,  so  en 
tirely  master  of  himself  that  he  seemed  to  be  under  no  temp 
tation  to  transgress  the  rules  of  propriety  in  any  particular. 
On  intimate  terms  with  him  for  more  than  four  years,  I  never 
once  heard  a  profane  or  obscene  word  from  his  lips. 

"Some  two  years  before  I  left  the  city  of  Dayton  the  family 
of  Mr.  Vallandighani  were  greatly  afflicted  in  the  death,  of  a 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  505 

near  relative,  Miss  Belle  McMahon,  a  sister  to  Mrs.  Vallandig- 
ham,  and  a  most  amiable  and  every  way  excellent  Christian 
lady.  For  many  weeks  previous  to  her  release  from  the  body 
she  had  been  a  great  sufferer.  During  this  time  it  was  my 
duty  as  it  was  my  privilege  to  appear  many  times  at  the  bed 
side  of  her  who  was  sick,  to  do,  by  prayer  and  religious  con 
versation,  what  b^  the  blessing  of  God  I  could  to  prepare  her 
mind  for  the  end  which  all  perceived  was  drawing  near.  I 
had  thus  an  opportunity  to  look  at  the  character  of  Mr.  V.  as 
it  appeared  under  affliction,  for  no  member  of  the  family  sym 
pathised  more  deeply  with  the  sufferer  than  he.  He  not  only 
did  all  in  his  power  to  soothe  her  bodily  pains,  but  he  took  the 
deepest  interest  in  her  spiritual  welfare.  When  she  became 
despondent,  as  she  sometimes  did,  and  expressed  doubts  as  to 
the  question  of  her  acceptance,  he  would  sit  by  her  bed-side, 
and  like  a  true  brother,  read  to  her  some  appropriate  lesson 
from  the  Word  of  God.  Then  he  would  speak  to  her  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  Christ,  and  thus 
endeavor  to  dispel  her  despondency.  On  more  than  one  occa 
sion  he  had  me  to  call  at  his  office,  when  he  would,  in  the 
most  feeling  manner,  state  to  me  the  substance  of  his  inter 
views  with  her.  Sometimes  he  read  for  her  the  service  for  the 
sick  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  at  other  times  some  por 
tion  of  the  Scriptures,  the  book  and  chapter  of  which  he  would 
mention  to  me.  My  last  interview  with  this  excellent  lady  took 
place  when  she  was  near  her  end,  and  felt  herself  that  she  was 
dying.  The  scene  was  very  solemn  and  affecting.  As  I  entered 
the  chamber  of  the  dying  Christian,  Mr.  V.,  the  family,  and  a  few 
invited  friends,  were  standing  around  her  bed  attending  to  her 
last  requests.  As  I  approached,  her  eye  fell  upon  me,  and  she 
said, '  Mr.  S.  has  come;  let  the  conversation  be  suspended,  and  let 
us  once  more  have  prayer.'  Her  request  was  complied  with. 
Prayer,  the  last  prayer,  was  made.  It  was  a  touching  occasion; 
all  were  bathed  in  tears.  When  we  rose  from  our  bended 
knees  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  overcome  by  his  emotions,  and 
retiring  to  an  adjoining  room,  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  and 
wept  like  a  child.  I  had  heard  him  when  by  his  powers  as  an 
orator  he  swayed  vast  multitudes  of  people  as  I  have  never 
seen  them  swayed  by  any  other  man ;  but  when,  on  this  sad 
day,  I  saw  him  bow  in  tearful  submission  to  the  call  which  was 
summoning  a  dear  one  hence,  the  man  I  rather  admired  than 
loved  before,  I  now  both  admired  and  loved. 

\ 


506  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  doctrine 
that  'the  Most  High  rules  in  the  kingdoms  of  men;'  and  this 
fact,  he  often  said  to  me,  made  him  strong  in  the  belief  that 
our  country,  under  Providence,  would  yet  some  day  emerge 
from  all  the  confusion  and  trouble  under  which  it  was  strug 
gling,  and  move  on  to  a  grander  position  in  the  scale  of 
national  greatness  than  it  had  hitherto  attained. 

"  With  these  hastily  sketched  incidents  and  reflections ;  with 
the  highest  regard  for  the  name  and  character  of  the  honored 
dead ;  with  the  hope  that  in  passing  from  the  exciting  scenes 
of  earth  he  has  been  translated  to  the  Father's  house  of  many 
mansions ;  and  with  the  prayer  that  the  memorial  volume  you 
are  about  to  publish  may  prove  a  blessing  to  all  who  shall  read 
its  pages,  and  through  them  to  the  land  its  subject  loved  so 
well,  permit  me  to  subscribe  myself, 

'    "  Sincerely  yours, 

"  D.  STECK. 
"  Middletown,  Md.,  Nov.  20th,  1871." 

The  following  letter,  written  by  Mr.  Vallandigham  to  his 
sister  Margaret  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  her  husband, 
exhibits  alike  his  kind  sympathy  and  Christian  faith : — 

"DAYTOX,  Ohio,  Dec.  12,  1869. 
"  Mrs.  M.  E.  Robertson,  New  Lisbon,  Ohio  : 

"  My  Dear  Sister :  —  I  was  absent  in  another  county,  in  the 
midst  of  the  trial  of  an  important  case,  when  Mr.  Oilman's 
dispatch  came  announcing  Mr.  Robertson's  death. 

"  I  write  now  to  assure  you  of  my  deepest  sympathy  with 
you  and  yours  in  this  great  bereavement.  I  feel  sure  that, 
though  sorrowing,  it  is  not  as  one  without  hope.  In  a  little 
while  we  shall  all  follow,  and,  I  trust  and  believe,  be  reunited 
with  the  many  dear  and  loved  ones  whom  we  now  mourn,  but 
who  have  only  preceded  us  to  those  mansions  in  the  skies  where, 
purified  and  perfected  spirits,  we  shall  meet  again  and  dwell 
together  forever,  where  the  eye  sheds  no  tear,  the  bosom  heaves 
no  sigh,  the  heart  swells  not  with  secret  grief,  and  no  sorrow 
ever  comes.  For  surely  it  is  a  reality  —  but  if  a  delusion,  yet 
one  to  which  I  would  fondly  cling  (associated  as  it  is  with 
earliest  and  most  cherished  memories  of  sainted  father  and 
mother)  till  heart  and  flesh  fail  me  -—that 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLAND'IGHAM.  507 

*  There  is  a  land  of  pure  delight 
Where  saints  immortal  reign; 
Infinite  clay  excludes  the  night, 
And  pleasures  banish  pain.' 

"  In  this  faith  died  all  of  our  household,  and  of  the  house 
holds  for  generations  wherever  we  have  inherited  family  and 
name ;  and  let  us  cherish  it  with  an  unfaltering  trust  till  we 
too  shall  lie  down  in  the  dust.  I  have  long  since  ceased  to 
look  upon  death  with  any  sensation  of  terror,  and  like  the 
patriarch  Job,  say  daily,  ( All  the  days  of  my  appointed  time 
will  I  wait  till  my  change  come.'  So  let  it  be  with  all  of  us. 
You  remember  the  beautiful  poem  of  Mrs.  Hemans,  'The 
Graves  of  a  Household/  A  like  fortune  has  been  ours  who 
in  childhood  grew  up  so  lovingly  together ;  yet  shall  we  meet 
together  again,  young  and  old,  glorified  spirits,  in  the  i  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  and  on  high/ 

"Comfort  yourself,  therefore,  my  dear  sister,  under  this 
great  affliction,  and  may  the  Father  of  all  mercies  be  very 
gracious  to  you. 

"  We  are  all  well,  and  unite  in  much  love  to  you  all. 
"  Very  affectionately,  your  brother 

"  CLEMENT." 

The  above  letter  was,  last  August,  published  in  the  Dayton 
Ledger.  Its  publication  was  accompanied  with  some  editorial 
remarks  which,  coming  from  one  who  was  long  and  intimately 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Vallandigham,  and  because 'of  their 
intrinsic  excellence,  we  insert'  in  this  volume.  Speaking  of  the 
letter,  he  says : — 

tc  It  exhibits  one  of  the  most  beautiful  traits  in  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham's  private  character  as  we  knew  him,  and  as  he  appeared 
among  friends  and  relatives.  Besides,  in  view  of  the  recent 
death  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  himself,  it  now  possesses  a  peculiar 
and  mournful  interest,  aside  from  the  touching  tenderness  and 
manly  sympathy  which  it  shows  for  the  distress  of  a  bereaved 
sister.  It  exhibits  too,  and  confirms  to  the  world,  what  the 
writer  of  this  during  a  long  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Vallandig 
ham,  extending  over  a  period  of  almost  twenty  years  and 
embracing  his  most,  active  political  life,  had  often  observed  in 


508  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

him,  namely:  that  a  deep  vein  of  actual  piety  and  firmly 
seated  religious  conviction  entered  into  Mr.  "VVs  composition, 
and  seemed  to  be  part  of  his  being.  We  know,  too,  that  the 
leading  maxims  of  his  life  were  drawn  from  scriptural  read 
ings,  with  which  his  speeches  and  conversations,  unconsciously 
to  himself  as  it  were,  plenteously  abounded.  By  the  outside 
world,  who  only  knew  Mr.  Yallandigham  at  a  distance  or 
observed  him  carelessly,  and  that  too  often  through  the  dis 
torted  medium  of  personal  or  political  prejudices,  this  fact 
would  scarcely  be  credited.  But  we  appeal  to  his  recorded 
speeches  and  writings  for  the  evidence.  We  never  knew  a 
man  in  our  life  who  was  more  thoroughly  permeated  in  his 
private  convictions  with  the  philosophy  of  the  Bible  than  Mr. 
Vallandigham.  Nor  did  we  ever  know  a  more  thorough 
Biblical  scholar.  Unconsciously  to  himself,  this  kind  of  learn 
ing  not  only  furnished  him 'a  rule  of  life  but  pervaded  his 
sentiments  and  philosophy —  not  in  a  narrow,  sectarian  sense, 
but  in  broad,  liberalising,  humanitarian  and  charitable"  prin 
ciples,  free  from  the  dogmatisms  of  creeds  or  the  hypocrisy  of 
empty  professions.  Mr.  V.'s  religion  was  innate  with  him. 
It  was  both  a  sentiment  and  a  principle,  and  we  believe  that  he 
himself  was  unconscious  of  the  strength  of  that  element  in  his 
own  nature,  or  of  the  firm  texture  that  it  gave  to  his  character 
in  all  other  things.  More  firmly  than  any  other  man  that  we 
ever  knew,  he  believed  that  there  was  a  right  side  and  a  wrong 
side  to  everything ;  that  God  ruled  the  world  and  provided  for 
the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  right  with  the  same  certainty  with 
which  He  had  set  the  seasons  or  fixed  the  laws  o.f  gravitation. 
Hence  his  conduct  on  every  question  was  always  guided  by  fixed 
and  deliberate  convictions,  and  hence  too  the  amazing  energy 
and  unswerving,  inspmng  faith  with  which  he  always  clung 
to  and  maintained  them.  To  us  therefore  who  knew  him  so 
well,  there  is  one  sentence  in  the  letter  which  we  now  give  to 
the  public,  which  above  all  others  confirms  the  estimate  we 
ever  had  of  him,  and  throws  a  flood  of  light  not  only  on  the 
utter  fearlessness  of  his  character,  but  explains  the  high  and 
unfailing  sources  of  it  —  how  little  terror  death  had  for  him, 
and  how  thoroughly  he  had  come  to  contemplate  it  with  the 
calmness  of  a  philosopher  and  the  resignation  of  a  Christian. 
Speaking  in  this  calm  faith  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and 
of  the  blessed  hopes  hereafter,  says  Mr.  Vallandigham : — 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  509 

' ' '  For  surely  it  is  a  reality In  this  faith  died  all 

of  our  household,  and  of  the  households  for  generations  where- 
ever  we  have  inherited  family  and  name ;  and  let  us  cherish  it 
with  an  unfailing  trust  till  we  too  shall  lie  down  in  the  dust. 
I  have  long  since  ceased,'  says  he,  'to  look  upon  death  with  any 
sensation  of  terror,  and  like  the  patriarch  Job,  say  daily,  "All 
the  days  of  my  appointed  time  will  I  wait  till  my  change 
come."  So  let  it  be  with  all  of  us/ 

"  Here,  indeed,  is  and  was  the  key  to  Mr.  "Vallandigham's 
whole  character.  He  believed  in  God,  and  in  his  own  destiny 
in  the  hands  and  under  the  guidance  of  that  Supreme  Being. 
How  little,  then,  could  the  persecutions  and  the  revilings 
which  he  suffered  in  his  life,  affect  him,  or  break  or  intimidate 
his  noble  spirit !  And  how  clearly,  and  loudly,  in  the  midst 
of  all  of  them,  in  his  speech  of  January  14,  1863,  rang  out  his 
manly  and  almost  God-like  defiance : 

"  'Do  right ;  and  trust  to  God,  and  the  truth,  and  the  people  ! 
PERISH  OFFICE!  PERISH  HONORS!  PERISH  LIFE  ITSELF;  BUT 
DO  THE  THING  THAT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  DO  IT  LIKE  A  MAN  !  ' 

"  Such,  indeed,  was  Mr.  Yallandigham  —  of  the  stuff  that 
the  ancient  martyrs  were  made  of —  whether  grappling  with  a 
remorseless,  overpowering,  despotic  Administration,  or  wrest 
ling  in  the  sanctity  of  private  life  with  a  great  affliction,  and 
comforting  those  who  leaned  on  him  for  sympathy  and  pro 
tection — still  turning  to  his  faith  like  the  needle  to  the  pole, 
and  reiterating  his  trust  in '  God,  and  the  truth,  and  the  people/ 
Verily,  we  shall  never  see  his  like  again ! " 

The  three  following  letters  we  present  in  further  illustration 
of  Mr.  Vallandigham's  Christian  character. 
To  his  brother  James : — 

"DAYTON,  O., Dec.  6, 1855. 

"...  I  have  a  few  choice  theological  -and  religious  books, 
but  the  BIBLE  is  almost  my  only  study  of  this  sort.  The  more 
I  read  it,  and  the  more  I  reflect  upon  it  and  upon  religious 
subjects,  the  more  I  am  satisfied  that  the  nearer  we  keep  to  it, 
and  the  further  from  books  of  man's  invention  and  device, 
even  if  true  and  sound,  yet  but  mere  dilutions  of  its  God-, 
revealed  teachings,  the  nearer  we  are  ?to  the  truth.  1  find 


510  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGKHAM. 

this  especially  true  in  regard  to  professed  books  of  devotion 
and  practical  piety,  many  of  them  utterly  erroneous,  or  miser 
ably  weak.  I  find  that  every  man  assumes  his  own  notions 
and  experiences,  colored  as  they  must  be  by  his  temperament, 
education,  time  of  life,  and  a  thousand  other  circumstances, 
as  the  only  true  standard,  and  hence  there  are  just  as  many 
standards  as  authors  and  books,  and  no  two  alike.  And  but 
for  the  Bible,  '  the  sure  word  of  prophecy/  I  should  have  been 
driven  to  the  verge  of  skepticism,  in  the  midst  of  this  mass  of 
jargon  and  inanity,  and  too  often  mere  cant.  Hence  I  have 
ceased  to  look  into  them,  and  turn  again  and  again,  and  yet 
again,  with  fresh  and  infinite  delight  to  the  waters  of  that  river 
of  life  pure  as  crystal,  flowing  from  the  one  perennial  and  un 
varying  fountain  of  God's  most  holy  word.  Here  I  find  rivers 
of  pleasure  forevermore.  And  I  cannot  consent  to  drink  of 
the  bitter  and  muddy  ditches  and  drains  which  have  been  filled 
therefrom  afar  off,  when  I  may  drink  at  the  original  fountain 
of  the  water  of  life,  and  thirst  for  none  other.  And  I  think 
if  we  had  less  mere  sermonising,  and  more  exposition  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  pulpit,  it  would  be  much  better.  Indeed  I 
think  that  after  the  canon  closed,  it  was  the  chief  and  original 
office  of  the  ministry  to  expound  the  Bible.  But  I  take  the 
whole  Bible  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  not  a  particular  book 
in  it,  or  part  of  it,  least  of  all  a  particular  text,  whereon  to 
build  a  system  of  faith  or  rules  of  practice;  but  'all  Scripture' 
—  Old  Testament  and  New,  the  Pentateuch  as  well  as  the 
Epistles.  Interpreting  these  all  together,  limiting,  explaining, 
enlarging,  illustrating  one  part  by  another,  and  by  and  with 
the  volume  of  nature,  I  strive,  by  God's  blessing,  to  attain  as 
far  as  my  poor  faculties  will  admit,  a  full  and  true  knowledge 
of  what  He  would  have  me  believe  concerning  Him,  and  what 
duty  He  requires  of  me.  If  I  read  one  part  more  than  another, 
it  is  the  Psalms  and  the  Gospels.  But  I  could  write  a  small 
book  on  these  subjects,  and  lest  I  should  weary  you,  stay  my 
pen.  (I  prefer  the  old  writers  on  theology  decidedly.) 5; 

To  his  mother : — 

"DAYTON,  Dec.  22, '55. 

" ....  I  shall  depend  on  you  meantime  not  to  deny  your 
selves  any  necessary  or  comfort  on  my  account,  as  the  Lord 


LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIQHAM.       ^     511 

prospers  me,  and  I  am  able  to  help  you  fully,  and  you  know 
how  willing.  I  have  much,  very  much  continually  to  be 
thankful  for.  Business  returns  again  freely  with  the  winter, 
and  money  of  course  with  it.  Health  and  prosperity  continue 
with  us  on  all  sides,  and  '  our  cup  with  goodness  overflows.' 
I  have  lately  been  greatly  honored  and  praised  everywhere  for 
the  speech  I  made  here  in  October.  But  I  give  God  all  the 
'  glory/  and  recognise  in  it  renewed  cause  for  thankfulness  and 
gratitude  and  obedience.  I  rejoice,  dear  mother,  that  you  re 
member  me  daily.  It  is  true  that  I  am  surrounded  by  temp^ 
tations  and  full  of  engagements ;  but  these  are  only  trials  of 
our  faith  and  steadfastness.  These  engagements,  too,  I  recog 
nise  as  so  many  duties,  and  strive  to  perform  them  in  the  fear 
of  God.  My  purpose,  relying  wholly  on  Him  for  the  strength 
and  wisdom  which  come  from  above,  is  always  '  so  to  use  the 
things  of  the  world  as  not  to  abuse  them.'  Active  and  earnest 
pursuit  of  the  lawful  business  of  the  world,  ever  mindful  to 
give  God  the  glory  in  all  things,  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
Christian  walk  and  character,  and  indeed  is  a  Christian  duty. 
The  Apostle  Paul  pronounces  him  who  neglects  it '  worse  than 
an  infidel ' —  one  who  denies  the  Saviour.  .  .  It  was  in  the 
wilderness,  too,  and  alone,  that  our  JLord  was  tempted.  What 
is  required  of  us  then  is  watchfulness  and  prayer  —  meaning  by 
prayer  not  only  petition,  but  all  devotion  and  worship  of  God 
—  a  continual  sense  of  His  presence,  and  lifting  up  our  heart 
to  Him.  It  is  not  to  be  taken  out  of  the  world,  but  to  be  pre 
served  in  the  world  from  sin.  *  Diligence  in  business '  implies 
earnest  and  zealous  attention  to  it:  without  this  there  is  no 
success  in  it.  King  David  managed  ihe  aifairs  of  a  great 
kingdom  and  raised  it  from  feebleness  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
splendor ;  he  was  continually  engaged  in  its  multiplied  and  per 
plexing  concerns ;  and  yet  he  was  adjudged  perfect  save  in  one 
matter  only.  I  take  the  Bible  and  nothing  but  the  Bible  as  my 
rule  of  faith  and  practice ;  and  taking  it,  I  would  work  every  day 
in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  which  devolve  upon  me  as  an 
inhabitant  of  earth  as  if  I  were  to  live  for  ever,  and  yet  by 
God's  blessing  and  grace  live  every  day  as  though  I  was  to  die 
to-morrow.  I  regret  indeed  that  my  engagements  sometimes 
interfere  necessarily  with  some  of  the  more  outward  and  public 
exercises  ;  but  not  with  the  private  and  the  secret  devotions  of 
the  heart.  God  is  everywhere,  and  the  heart  can  be  lifted  to 


512  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

Him,  and  His  presence  be  felt,  in  the  court-room,  the  office, 
the  legislative  hall,  and  upon  the  street,  as  well  as  in  the  public 
sanctuary.  While  I  am  not  so  strict  as  some  about  what  my 
judgment  and  conscience  tell  me  is  only  the  '  tithing  of  mint, 
anise  and  cumin/  I  strive  always  strictly  to  observe  all  the 
'weightier  matters  of  the  law.'  Yet  after  all  I  know  that  I  am 
an  unprofitable  servant,  and  rely  solely  for  strength,  wisdom 
and  guidance  here,  and  salvation  hereafter,  upon  the  '  free 
grace '  of  God  and  our  Redeemer." 


To  his  mother : — 


"DAYTON,  Ohio,  Feb.  7,  1856. 


"  My  Dearest  Mother :  —  I  have  time  only  to  enclose  you  a 
small  present,  which  I  trust  will  be  acceptable.  I  have 
thought  of  you  every  day  during  this  severe  winter.  It  has 
reminded  me  of  the  old-fashioned  winters  of  which  I  have 
heard  you  speak,  and  also  of  some  winters  which  I  remember 
of  in  my  childhood.  I  hope  you  have  been  comfortable,  and 
that  all  are  well.  My  trust  has  been  in  our  Father  who  is  in 
heaven,  who  doeth  all  things  well.  His  mercies  and  his  kind 
providences  have  been  very  signal  and  infinite  in  number,  and 
fill  my  heart  continually  with  gratitude,  causing  me  to  exclaim 
with  the  Psalmist :  '  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is 
within  me,  bless  His  Holy  Name ! '  In  his  character  of  Crea 
tor,  Preserver,  Benefactor  and  .Redeemer,  he  unites  everything 
which  calls  for  unceasing  praise  and  thanksgiving.  And  these, 
in  the  midst  of  the  business  and  cares  and  pursuits  of  every 
kind  of  this  life,  I  desire  to  render  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places,  striving  to  attain  that  perfection  of  life  and  character 
as  drawn  by  St.  Paul  — '  Not  slothful  in  business,  fervent  in 
spirit,  serving  the  Lord  —  using  the  things  of  the  world  as  not 
abusing  them,  remembering  that  the  fashion  thereof  passeth 
away/ ;; 

The  following  letter  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Haight  is  in  reply 
to  one  making  inquiry  as  to  his  interview,  or  attempted  inter 
view,  with  Mr.  Yallandigham  on  his  death- bed : — 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  513 

"  LEBANON,  Ohio,  July  3, 1871. 
"  Rev.  J.  L.  Vallandigham : 

"  Dear  Brother :  —  I  was  with  your  lamented  brother  during 
nine  hours  of  his  sufferings,  and  saw  him  expire.  I  asked 
permission  to  say  a  few  words  to  him  on  the  great  question, 
having  a  strong  desire  to  know  his  mind  in  view  of  the  solemn 
realities  he  was  approaching,  but  was  not  allowed  to  do  so,  as 
the  doctors  said  absolute  quiet  was  the  only  remaining  hope  in 
his  case.  Of  course  I  differed  with  the  medical  gentlemen, 
but  had  to  submit.  About  3  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  his 
death,  as  I  was  standing  by  his  bed-side  and  wondering  what 
his  thoughts  might  be,  and  hoping  they  were  busy  with  eternal 
things,  he  suddenly  opened  his  eyes,  and  looking  directly  and 
fixedly  into  mine,  said,  in  a  distinct  but  somewhat  labored  voice, 
and  with  a  cheerful  expression,  these  words :  '  I  believe  in  our 
good  old  doctrine  of  predestination,  and  I  think  I  will  get 
through  yet/  then  closed  his  eyes  and  seemed  to  sleep.  What 
did  he  intend  to  express  by  this?  I  have  asked  myself  again 
and  again.  May  we  not  reasonably  believe  that  in  these  few 
words  he  gave  his  last  testimony  to  the  faith  of  Jesus  as  his 
fathers  had  taught  him,  and  as  he  had,  years  ago,  publicly 
professed?  May  we  not  hope  and  trust  that  during  those 
twelve  closing  hours  of  his  earthly  existence,  and  with  his 
faculties  unimpaired,  his  old  religious  experience  returned  in  all 
its  freshness  and  vigor,  full  of  joy  and  immortal  hope? 

"  It  has  been  my  lot  to  witness,  in  many  instances,  the  last 
contest  between  humanity  and  death,  but  I  have  never  seen 
more  courage,  patience  and  resignation  than  were  exhibited  in 
your  dear  brother's  last  hours.  He  apparently  met  death,  as  he 
had  met  every  event  in  his  eventful  life  —  with  his  face  to  the 
danger,  and  undismayed.  Yours  very  truly, 

"JNO.  HAIGHT." 

However  gratifying  it  might  have  been  to  have  heard  from 
Mr.  Vallandigham  on  his  death-bed  an  expression  of  his 
views  and  feelings  at  that  trying  hour,  it  was  not  necessary. 
His  religious  experience  as  unfolded  in  the  preceding  letters, 
and  the  pure  and  stainless  life  he  lived  under  circumstances 
exceedingly  unfavorable  to  religious  culture,  and  amid  trials 
33 


514  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  temptations  that  would  have  driven  many  a  man  into  utter 
apostasy,  these  sufficiently  attest  the  genuineness  of  his  piety, 
and  are  a  rich  source  of  comfort  to  his  relatives  and  friends  in 
their  deep  grief  at  his  sad  and  sudden  departure. 

Y»"e  will  close  this  chapter  with  an  extract  from  a  letter  to 
his  brother  James,  announcing  the  death  of  Miss  Ellen  Bell 
McMahon,  his  sister-in-law  and  a  member  of  his  family : — 

"DAYTON,  OHIO,  July  19,  1867. 

"My  dear  Brother :—  Poor  dear  Ellen  Bell  left  us  for  home 
last  night  at  five  minutes  past  eleven.  She  died  easy  and 
happy,  full  of  faith,  hope,  assurance.  Her  sufferings  were 
protracted  and  severe,  but  she  bore  them  all  without  a  mur 
mur  or  complaint,  nor  desired  to  live  longer.  It  is  a  terrible 
trial,  but  Louisa  bears  up  under  it  better  than  in  any  former 
trouble,  sorrow-stricken  as  she  is. 

"  Poor  Ellen  will  be  buried  to-morrow  afternoon  in  Wood 
land  Cemetery,  most  beautiful  among  all  the  *  cities  of  silence,' 
alongside  of  our  infant  little  boy,  there  to  sleep  sweetly ;  and 
where  by-and-bye  we  shall  join  our  dust  to  hers,  sleeping  too 
till '  this  corruption  shall  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal 
immortality/  Till  then  ( all  the  days  of  my  appointed  time 
(here)  shall  I  wait  till  my  change  come/  " 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 

HIS    DEATH. 

"WHAT  shadows  we  are,  and  what  shadows  we  pursue! " 
Such  was  the  exclamation  of  an  eminent  British  statesman 
when  he  heard  of  the  unexpected  death  of  a  distinguished 
rival.  And  how  forcibly  is  this  truth  exemplified  in  the 
sudden  departure  of  Mr.  Vallandigham !  Never  was  his 
health  more  vigorous  than  on  the  morning  of  the  day  on 
which  the  accident  occurred,  never  his  form  more  robust,  nor 
his  prospects  of  long  life  more  promising;  and  never  were 
his  political  prospects  brighter  —  his  prospects  of  honor,  of 
eminence,  of  usefulness. 

Lebanon,  Warren  County,  Ohio,  is  a  town  of  some  four 
thousand  inhabitants.  It  has  been  the  home  of  some  of  Ohio's 
most  eminent  statesmen.  Here  lived  Jeremiah  Morrow,  John 
McLean,  and  others  whose  names  have  attained  a  wide  celebrity. 
Here  lived  and  died  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  our 
age,  Hon.  Thomas  Corwin,  a  man  whose  powers  of  mind  have 
never  been  properly  appreciated.  Here  too,  in  1825,  died  a 
favorite  daughter  of  Henry  Clay,  and  in  the  old  Baptist 
burial-ground  she  lies  buried.  Referring  to  her  death,  a  letter- 
writer  from  Lebanon  many  years  ago  beautifully  says :  "What 
a  history  of  disappointed  hopes  and  of  the  keenest  sorrows 
would  the  heart-life  of  most  of  our  great  men  unfold !  The 


516  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

path  of  glory  is  one  bedewed  with  tears,  and  our  greatest  men 
are  arrested  by  the  providence  of  God  in  their  schemes  of 
earthly  ambition.      For  six  weeks  did  the  great  statesman 
Henry  Clay  tarry   in  Lebanon   to  watch   over   the   decline 
and  death  of  the  flower  of  his  heart ;  and  when  he  laid  his 
blooming   daughter   among  strangers,   how  did   he  feel  the 
emptiness  of  human  glory  and  the  preciousness  of  the  Chris 
tian  faith  inscribed  on  the  tablet  to  his  daughter's  memory ! " 
And  here,  on  the  16th  day  of  June,  1871,  whilst  preparing 
to  make  what  he  expected  would  be  the  greatest  legal  effort  of 
his  life,  the  fatal  accident  occurred  which  closed  the  mortal 
career  of  Clement  L.  Yallandigham. 

The  case  in  which  he  was  engaged  was  a  very  remarkable  one. 
It  originated  in  Hamilton,  Butler  County.  On  the  evening  of 
the  24th  day  of  December,  1870,  a  large  party  of  gentlemen  were 
engaged  in  playing  various  games  of  cards  in  the  saloon  known 
as  "The  American,"  which  is  situated  011  High  street,  between 
First  and  Second  streets,  and  directly  opposite  the  court-house. 
Thomas  Myers,  who  was  murdered  that  night,  after  attending 
a  meeting  of  the  building  association  to  which  he  belonged, 
went  up  into  the  upper  room  of  the  saloon,  and  soon  became 
engaged  in  a  game  of  faro.  A  little  after  eight  o'clock,  five 
men,  among  them  Thomas  McGehan,  came  up  into  the  faro- 
room,  and  in  a  moment  after  they  entered  Myers  was  attacked 
with  slung-shots  and  boulders  suddenly  and  from  behind.  He 
immediately  jumped  to  his  feet  and  attempted  to  draw  his  pistol 
from  his  right  side  pantaloons'  pocket ;  he  had  some  difficulty 
getting  it  out,  and  whilst  in  the  act  of  drawing  it,  the  muffled 
sound  of  a  pistol-shot  was  heard.  When  he  did  get  his  pistol 
out,  it  was  evident  he  had  been  severely  hurt.  He  had  grasped 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  517 

Jack  Garver  (one  of  his  assailants)  the  moment  he  arose,  but 
his  grip  soon  relaxed.  He  fell  on  the  floor,  but  again  arose, 
fired  two  shots,  then  fell  again,  and  ^  he  lay  fired  another 
shot ;  but  all  these  shots  were  aimless,  and  in  a  few  moments 
he  was  a  corpse.  The  affray  was  so  sudden,  so  frightful  in  its 
character,  and  the  struggle  so  violent,  that  more  than  a  dozen 
men  whose  minds  were  deeply  intent  upon  their  play,  startled 
and  utterly  astonished,  instinctively  sought  safety  in  flight. 
Tables  and  chairs  were  upset,  the  stove  was  knocked  over,  and 
in  an  instant  a  quiet  room,  where  scarcely  a  voice  had  been 
heard,  was  changed  into  a  perfect  pandemonium.  Tom 
McGehan  was  seen  in  the  room  during  this  terrible  affray  by 
several  persons,  but  no  one  saw  him  have  a  pistol,  nor  did  any 
one  pretend  (except  Jack  Garver,  who  turned  State's  evidence) 
to  have  seen  him  engaged  in  any  hostile  demonstration.  Yet 
because  it  was  known  that  he  had  been  on  bad  terms  with 
Myers  for  years,  although  this  was  not  shown  on  the  trial,  and 
on  account  of  his  well-known  desperate  character,  the  suspicions 
of  the  community  immediately  pointed  to  him  as  the  instigator, 
if  not  the  actual  perpetrator  of  this  terrible  crime.  Such  was 
the  terror  of  McGehan's  name,  however,  that  more  than 
twenty-four  hours  passed  before  any  movement  was  made  to 
arrest  him,  or  those  supposed  to  be  associated  with  him  in  the 
killing  of  Myers.  After  the  parties  accused  were  safely  lodged 
in  jail,  the  excitement  of  the  community  became  very  high. 
Although  Tom  Myers,  the  murdered  man,  had  been  a  notorious 
rough,  and  had  a  very  bad  character  for  peace  and  quiet  in  the 
community,  yet  his  family  were  popular  and  highly  respected, 
and  the  horrible  circumstances  connected  with  his  sudden  and 
cowardly  murder  were  well  calculated  to  produce  intense  feel- 


518  LIFE    OF  CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

ing  in  any  community.  There  was  talk  even  of  resorting  to 
lynch-law.  Fortunately  better  counsels  prevailed,  and  on 
the  Wednesday  after  tile  murder,  which  occurred  011  Saturday 
night,  the  preliminary  investigation  commenced  before  Squire 
Wilkins.  This  was  attended  with  intense  excitement,  lasted 
several  days,  and  the  court-room  was  every  day  crowded  to 
suffocation.  The  prejudice  and  animosity  of  the  immense 
crowd  were  exhibited  without  reserve  during  the  whole  time ; 
and  although  the  Justice  endeavored  to  suppress  any  extra 
ordinary  manifestations  of  feeling,  yet  on  several  occasions 
testimony  which  bore  heavily  against  McGehan  was  greeted  with 
boisterous  applause.  Mr.  Vallandigham,  who  had  been  early 
retained  in  the  case,  when  he  came  to  speak,  denounced  in  elo 
quent  and  fitting  terms  this  unseemly  conduct;  but  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  suppress  its  exhibition.  The  prisoners 
were  all  held  for  murder  in  the  first  degree,  and  bail  of  course 
refused.  At  the  January  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
an  indictment  against  all  the  parties  charged  was  found  for 
murder  in  the  first  degree.  Soon  after  an  application  for  a  change 
of  venue  was  granted  by  the  court  to  McGehan,  and  the  change 
was  made  from  Butler  County  to  Warren.  At  Lebanon,  the 
eounty  seat  of  Warren  County,  upon  the  6th  day  of  June, 
1871,  the  trial  commenced,  Judge  Leroy  Pope  presiding.  An 
immense  array  of  counsel  appeared  both  for  the  State  and  for 
McGehan,  and  great  interest  was  manifested  all  over  the 
country  in  the  progress  of  the  trial.  By  common  consent  of 
the  counsel,  several  of  them  very  able  men,  Mr.  Vallandigham 
was  given  the  chief  management  of  the  case  for  McGehan,  and 
entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duty  with  the  most  intense 
ardor ;  his  whole  mind  and  soul,  in  fact,  seemed  wrapped  up 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  519 

in  this  case.  Mr.  Vallandigham  displayed  more  than  ordinary 
interest  in  this  case  not  only  because  of  its  magnitude,  not  only 
on  account  of  his  duty  to  his  client  professionally,  but  further 
because  remarks  made  by  certain  individuals  as  to  his  connec 
tion  with  the  case  had  angered  him  deeply  and  excited  his 
mind  to  the  highest  degree.  Of  these  remarks,  now  that  the 
subject  of  them  is  no  more,  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak ;  they 
were  made  by  men  who  had  no  connection  with  the  case  either 
for  the  prosecution  or  the  defence,  and  who  probably  had  no 
idea  that  they  would  ever  reach  his  ear.  The  ability  displayed 
by  both  sides  in  this  remarkable  trial  was  very  great.  For  the 
State  were  arrayed  Messrs.  George  K.  Sage,  J.  F.  Follett,  S. 
Z.  Gard  (prosecuting  attorney  of  Butler  County),  Kelley 
O'Neill  (prosecuting  attorney  of  Warren  County),  M.  N. 
Maginnis,  S.  C.  Symmes,  and  P.  H.  Kumler ;  for  the  defence, 
C.  L.  Vallandigham,  Thomas  Millikin,  A.  F.  Hume,  A.  G. 
McBurney,  J.  A.  Gilmore,  J.  S.  Wilson,  and  James  E.  Neal. 
On  Thursday  the  15th  of  June,  the  evidence  was  closed;  and 
the  next  morning  Mr.  J.  F.  Follett,  of  Cincinnati,  commenced 
the  opening  argument  for  the  State,  and  finished  his  able 
speech  about  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Mr.  Yallandigham 
then  made  a  very  earnest  effort  to  procure  an  adjournment  so 
that  his  coadjutor,  Thomas  Millikin,  could  take  up  the  time  on 
Saturday,  and  so  that  he  himself  should  be  able  to  make  his 
speech  on  Monday.  After  considerable  discussion  he  was  suc 
cessful  in  making  this  arrangement.  When  this  understanding 
was  arrived  at,  Mr.  V.  betrayed  a  satisfaction  amounting  to 
joy,  in  fact  it  put  him  in  unusual  good  spirits,  and  never  in 
the  happiest  days  of  his  early  life  did  he  exhibit  more  lively 
feelings  or  more  exuberance  of  animal  spirits.  Alas !  little 


520  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

did  he  know,  as  with  a  smile  upon  his  animated  countenance 
and  full  of  good  humor,  in  company  with  some  friends,  he  left 
the  court-house,  that  this  was  the  last  evening  he  was  destined 
to  behold  on  earth.* 

From  the  interesting  accounts  contained  in  the  Dayton 
Ledger,  and  Cincinnati  Enquirer  and  Commercial,  written  and 

^X 

published  at  the  time,  we  gather  the  following  facts  and  inci 
dents  of  the  death  and  attending  circumstances : — 

"LEBANON,  OHIO,  June  17,  1871. 

"  He  is  dead !  Vallandigham  dead !  What  a  world  of 
meaning,  what  a  wealth  of  pathos  in  these  simple  but  terrible 
words !  The  man  whose  name  but  a  few  days  ago  was  on  every 
man's  tongue,  and  whose  figure  was  the  central  one  in  American 
politics !  What,  dead?  Vallandigham  dead?  It  can  not  be! 
No !  Impossible !  It's  a  hoax  !  What  a  pity  !  &c.  &c.  Such 
were  the  exclamations  to  be  heard  on  the  street,  in  the  street 
cars,  restaurants,  hotels,  and  in  fact  everywhere  that  men  as 
semble  this  morning,  when  the  first  rumors  of  the  terrible 
tragedy  at  Lebanon  were  whispered.  For  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  dispatches  in  the  morning  papers  stated  that  the 
statesman  had  been  but  mortally  wounded,  and  that  the  vital 
spark  still  animated  the  face  and  figure  so  well  known  through 
out  the  length  and  breadth  of  his  own  Ohio,  the  rumor  that  he 
was  already  dead  got  abroad,  and  was  passed  from  mouth  to 
mouth  and  ear  to  ear  long  before  the  last  scene  of  the  tragedy 
was  enacted  in  this  quiet  little  city  of  the  valley. 

"Vallandigham,  Vallandigham,  nothing  but  Vallandigham 
—  his  virtues,  his  courage,  his  policy,  his  affection,  his  ability, 
his  size,  height,  age,  appearance,  everything,  in  short,  connected 
with  him,  were  the  topics  of  conversation  —  mournful  con 
versation,  throughout  the  city,  the  State,  and  the  nation. 

*  In  the  case  of  McGehan  the  jury  empanelled  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham's  death  could  not  agree,  and  were  discharged.  Afterwards  the 
case  was  removed  to  Montgomery  County,  and  there  tried,  the  jury  bring 
ing  in  a  verdict  of  murder  in  the  second  degree.  A  motion  for  a  new 
trial  was  granted,  the  result  of  which  was  a  verdict  of  acquittal.  This 
acquittal  excited  much  indignation  in  Hamilton,  where  it  was  generally 
believed  that  he  was  guilty. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLAND'IGHAM.  521 

"  In  the  midst  of  this  excitement  this  morning  your  corres 
pondent  left  the  city  to  visit  the  scene  of  the  tragedy,  with  a 
view  to  learning  all  that  was  to  be  learned  of  the  saddest  in 
cident  in  the  history  of  the  State.  On  the  train,  as  elsewhere, 
the  great  overshadowing  topic  of  conversation  was  the  tragedy 
at  Lebanon.  Those  who  had  already  heard  the  announcement 
of  the  death,  detailed  it  to  eager  crowds  of  listeners,  male  and 
female,  and  in  every  group  of  hearers  there  were  suffused  eyes 
and  wet  cheeks.  And  among  these  —  to  their  honor  be  it  said 
—  were  not  a  few  of  his  political  enemies,  men  who  had  op 
posed  and  denounced  him  while  living,  but  who,  now  that  he 
was  dead,  freely  expressed  their  admiration  and  respect  for  the 
many  noble  qualities  of  the  great  man  whose  high  courage 
nothing  but  death  could  quench.  At  Morrow  I  left  the  rail 
road  and  took  horse  and  buggy  for  this  place.  Not  until  this 
had  I  appreciated  the  widespread  sensation  that  the  news  of 
the  misfortune  had  created.  In  the  cities  and  towns,  and  along 
the  lines  of  the  railroad  and  telegraph,  it  was  but  natural  to 
expect  the  discussion  of  news  fraught  with  such  terrible  mean 
ing.  Bnt  to  find  men  and  women  away  out  there,  miles  from 
railroad  and  telegraph,  eagerly  inquiring  from  every  passing 
traveller  the  latest  news  from  the  distinguished  victim  of  the 
tragedy,  astonished  me  and  gave  me  a  new  revelation  of  the 
sad  importance  and  widespread  effect  of  the  sad  event.  All 
along  the  road  we  were  besieged  by  men  and  women  eager  to 
learn  the  truth  of  the  report,  and  when  assured  of  the  fact,  to 
know  all  of  the  details.  Staid  old  farmers  would  leave  plough 
in  furrow,  and  good  housewives  desert  kitchen  and  pantry,  to 
ask  questions  concerning  the  great  event  of  the  day. 

"  Many  of  these,  the  majority  in  fact,  had  known  the  man 
only  by  reputation,  and  many  of  them  had  so  known  him  only 
to  hate  him  as  the  bold  leader  of  the  Ohio  Democracy  during 
the  turbulent  times  of  1863 ;  but  the  sombre  shadow  of  the  death 
angel's  wing  had  wiped  out  the  dividing  lines  of  party,  and 
united  all  in  a  common  brotherhood  of  sorrow. 

"  Arriving  at  Lebanon,  we  found  that  usually  quiet  little 
town  in  a  state  of  intensely  suppressed  excitement.  Great  as 
was  the  excitement  elsewhere,  it  was  as  nothing  compared  with 
that  at  Lebanon.  From  the  time  that  the  news  of  the  fatal 
shot  went  abroad  the  night  before,  every  man,  woman  and 
child  in  the  little  city  had  been  talking  of  it,  lamenting  it,  and 
discussing  the  chances  of  recovery  and  of  death. 


522  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

"The  heart  of  the  cosy  village  had  been  stirred  to  its  deepest 
depths  by  the  report  of  that  pistol.  And  not  only  there  had 
that  shot  been  heard,  but  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  continent  it  had  echoed  and  re-echoed  in  mournful  cadence 
from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 
Ay,  the  echo  of  that  shot  traversed  the  Atlantic  and  echoed 
in  the  capitals  of  the  Old  World,  and  wherever  it  was  heard 
carried  with  it  a  feeling  of  sadness  and  sorrow  such  as  only  the 
death  of  one  of  earth's  greatest  children  could  cause. 

"As  soon  as  the  news  went  abroad  in  the  village,  the  inhabi 
tants  began  to  assemble  about  the  Lebanon  House  and  anxiously 
inquire  the  news  from  fatal  room  No.  15.  All  night  long  and 
during  the  weary  hours  of  the  morning  the  crowd  remained  in 
and  about  the  hotel,  and  even  after  the  sad  announcement  (at 
ten  o'clock  this  morning)  that  the  wounded  statesman  had 
ceased  to  breathe,  they  lingered  and  talked  in  whispers  of  the 
tragedy,  and  dwelt  with  sorrowful  interest  upon  every  detail  of 
the  terrible  affair.  It  is  indeed  surprising  how  popular  Mr. 
Valla^ndigham  had  become  in  the  village.  Coming  here  as  he 
did  with  his  anti-war  odium  upon  him,  and  in  the  capacity  of 
chief  attorney  for  one  whom  the  majority  of  the  people  believed 
to  be  a  desperate  and  depraved  murderer,  Mr.  Vallandigham 
was  not  received  with  cordial  favor,  nor  welcomed  as  a  guest 
who  would  do  the  town  honor  or  reflect  credit  upon  the  com 
munity.  Before,  however,  the  first  week  of  the  protracted  trial 
had  passed,  the  ability  and  professional  courtesy  of  the  lawyer 
had  won  the  respect  of  Court  and  Bar,  and  the  gentlemanly 
suavity  and  excellent  social  qualities  of  the  man  had  secured 
the  kindly  regard  of  all  the  citizens  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  Believing  firmly  in  the  innocence  of  his  client,  McGe- 
han,  he  had  entered  into  his  defence  with  all  the  ardor  of  his 
nature,  and  fought  his  accusers  step  by  step  until  the  close  of 
the  evidence  in  the  trial,  and  never  until  the  fatal  ball  pene 
trated  his  vitals  did  he  for  a  moment  allow  his  interest  to  slack, 
his  watchfulness  to  flag,  or  his  enthusiasm  to  cool. 

"  During  the  delivery  of  Mr.  Follett's  opening  argument 
yesterday  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  busily  engaged  in  watching 
the  case,  taking  notes,  and  in  the  intervals  preparing  the  great 
argument  that  he  firmly  believed  would  be  one  of  the  greatest 
efforts  of  his  life,  and  one  that  would  not  only  add  to  his  fame 
as  a  great  criminal  lawyer,  but  result  in  the  refutation  of  the 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIQHAM.  523 

theory  of  the  State  and  the  triumphant  acquittal  of  his  client. 
Mr.  Vallandigham  may  have  been  too  sanguine  in  this,  but 
that  he  did  entertain  such  opinions  is  abundantly  evident  from 
what  he  said  to  Mr.  "Williamson  and  other  friends  a  few  hours 
before  the  fatal  shot  was  fired.  Mr. Williamson  occupied  the  next 
seat  on  Mr.  Vallandigham's  right  at  the  supper-table  last  even 
ing,  and  was  engaged  in  animated  conversation  with  him  on  the 
subject  of  the  prospects  of  the  case,  the  theories  of  the  prosecution 
and  defence,  &c.  He  seemed  to  be  in  the  best  of  spirits  and  per 
fectly  sanguine  of  victory.  Upon  Mr.  Williamson's  stating  that 
he  intended  to  go  to  his  home  at  Loveland  that  night,  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  urged  him  to  stay  until  the  end  of  the  trial,  and 
especially  until  after  the  delivery  of  his  (Vallandigham's)  argu 
ment.  During  the  afternoon  and  evening  he  had  repeated  this 
invitation  to  a  number  of  acquaintances,  ladies  and  gentlemen 
of  the  town. 

"  His  unusually  good  spirits  and  light-heartedness  were  no 
ticed  by  many  of  his  acquaintances.  With  a  view  to  detaining 
Mr.  Williamson  until  Saturday,  he  gave  a  half  promise  to  ac 
company  that  gentleman  to  his  home  in  Loveland  and  spend 
the  Sabbath.  '  Frank  Cozad,'  said  he,  '  insisted  upon  my 
going  with  him,  and  I  have  partly  promised  to  do  so,  but  my 
inclination  now  is  to  go  to  Loveland  and  spend  the  Sabbath  in 
visits  to  my  good  friends  Bloss,  Powell,  and  Tom  Paxton. 
But/  added  he,  'you  remain  and  hear  my  argument  any 
how,  and  we'll  settle  the  matter  before  it  is  time  for  you  to 
start  for  home  to-morrow  night.' 

"He  continued  to  exhibit  evidences  of  good  spirits  and 
sanguine  hope  up  to  within  a  short  time  before  the  tragedy, 
when  the  receipt  of  a  letter  from  his  wife,  stating  that  she  had 
been  summoned  to  the  death-bed  of  her  brother,  Hon.  Jno.  "V". 
L.  McMahon,  at  Cumberland,  Maryland,  somewhat  saddened 
him. 

"Alas !  how  little  did  he  while  mourning  his  brother-in-law's 
death  think  that  that  same  faithful  sister  and  loving  wife  would 
within  a  few  brief  hours  be  notified  of  the  still  greater  bereave 
ment  of  her  husband's  death.  Indeed,  the  heart-crushing 
agony  that  this  delicate  and  affectionate  woman  is  called  upon 
to  suffer  is  one  of  the  most  painful  and  touching  of  the 
features  of  this  remarkable  tragedy. 

"  From  your  reporter  in  attendance  at  the  McGehan  trial, 


524  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

who  was  in  Mr.  Vallandigham's  room  almost  continually  from 
the  time  of  the  shooting  until  the  death  struggle,  I  have 
obtained  the  following  detailed  account  of  the  tragedy : 

"  After  taking  supper,  he  procured  from  the  landlord  of  the 
hotel  a  bit  of  white  muslin  cloth,  perhaps  a  foot  square,  for  the 
purpose  of  testing  to  his  own  satisfaction  the  question  as  to 
whether  a  shot  fired  from  a  pistol  in  close  proximity  to  it 
would  or  would  not  leave  a  mark  of  powder  upon  it.  Having 
provided  himself  with  this,  and  put  his  pistol  in  his  pocket,  he 
and  Mr.  Millikin  and  Mr.  Hume  went  out  together  to  the 
south  edge  of  town  beyond  the  residence  of  Governor  McBur- 
ney.  Arriving  there,  they  were  joined  by  Mr.  McBurney, 
and  the  trio  became  a  quartette. 

"  The  pistol  which  he  took  with  him  for  this  purpose  is  a 
new  revolver  which  he  had  purchased  only  a  few  days  before 
coming  to  Lebanon.  It  is  one  of  Smith  &  Wesson's  manu 
facture,  with  a  four-inch  barrel  and  five  chambers,  and  carries 
a  ball  of  32-100  of  an  inch  calibre.  It  is  a  beautiful  weapon, 
handsomely  though  not  elaborately  ornamented,  and  its  owner 
little  thought,  when  so  recently  purchasing  it,  that  it  would  so 
soon  be  the  instrument  of  his  untimely  death. 

"  Two  shots  were  fired  into  the  cloth,  and  all  were  satisfied 
with  the  result  of  the  experiment,  and  started  back  to  the  hotel. 

"  Mr.  Millikin,  ever  cautious  and  thoughtful,  said : 

"  '  Val.,  there  are  three  shots  in  your  pistol  yet.  You  had 
better  discharge  them.' 

"'  What  for?'  responded  Mr.  Vallandigham. 

" ( To  prevent  any  accident/  replied  the  cautious  attorney. 
'  You  might  shoot  yourself/ 

" '  No  danger  of  that/  replied  Mr.  Vallandigham.  '  I  have 
carried  and  practised  with  pistols  too  long  to  be  afraid  to  have 
a  loaded  one  in  my  pocket.7 

" '  You  had  better  be  careful  though/  said  Mr.  Millikin. 

" '  Never  fear  me/  was  the  reply. 

"They  then  slowly  walked  back  toward  the  town,  and, 
before  they  had  reached  the  hotel,  separated. 

"  Arriving  at  the  Lebanon  House  alone,  Mr.  Vallandigham 
was  stopped  on  his  way  up  stairs  by  the  landlord,  and  a  pack 
age  that  had  been  left  for  him  in  his  absence  placed  in  his 
hands.  That  parcel  contained  another  revolver  —  a  weapon 
that  had  been  exhibited  at  the  trial  in  Court,  and  was  not  only 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIO-HAM.  525 

unloaded,  but  had  had  the  chambers  removed.  Proceeding  to 
his  room,  he  unwrapped  the  parcel,  and  at  the  same  time  taking 
his  own  weapon  from  his  pocket,  laid  the  two  murderous 
instruments  on  the  table,  side  by  side. 

"  A  moment  later,  Mr.  Scott  Symmes,  a  young  lawyer  who 
has  been  connected  with  the  prosecution  of  the  case,  passed 
the  door. 

" '  Symmes/  said  he,  '  Follett  is  mistaken.  A  man  could 
easily  shoot  himself  as  Myers  was  shot.  Come  in  and  I  will 
show  how  it's  done/ 

"  Thus  invited,  Symmes  entered  the  room;  but  a  moment 
later,  seeing  Judge  Pope  coming  up  stairs,  excused  himself  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  going  to  Hamilton  in  the  morning,  and 
wished  to  see  the  Judge  before  he  left.  He  passed  out,  and  a 
minute  or  so  afterward  Mr.  McBurney  came  into  the  room. 
Mr.  Vallandigham,  still  standing  by  the  table  on  which  the 
pistols  lay,  said : 

" '  I'll  show  you  how  Tom  Myers  shot  himself.  Follett's 
mistaken  when  he  says  it  can't  be  done/  Saying  this  he  took 
up  one  of  the  murderous  instruments  in  his  hands,  put  it  into 
his  pantaloons  pocket,  and  slowly  drawing  it  out  again,  cocking 
it  as  he  drew  it  forth,  he  attempted  to  place  it  in  t'he  exact 
position  which  he  believed  Myers'  weapon  to  have  assumed  at 
the  moment  the  fatal  bullet  was  sped  on  its  mission  of  death. 
The  muzzle  of  the  weapon  still  within  the  lappel  of  the 
pocket,  he  brought  it  to  an  angle  of  about  forty- five  degrees. 
"  e  There,  that's  the  way  Myers  held  it,  only  he  was  getting 
up,  not  standing  erect.'"  Saying  this,  he  touched  the  trigger. 

"A  sudden  flash  —  the  half  suppressed  sound  of  a  shot  — 
and  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  with  an  expression  of  agony, 
exclaimed:  e My  God,  I've  shot  myself!'  and  reeled  toward 
the  wall  a  wounded  and  dying  man  —  wounded  and  dying  by 
his  own  hands. 

"This  happened  at  the  hour  of  nine  o'clock,  or  perhaps  five 
or  ten  minutes  earlier.  In  a  second  of  time  Mr.  McBurney, 
terrified  at  the  occurrence,  rushed  out  of  the  room  and  along 
the  hall  to  the  apartment  where  the  jury  was  quartered. 
Rapping  at  the  door,  he  eagerly  demanded  that  some  one  should 
come  into  Mr.  Yallandigham's  room,  as  he  had  shot  himself. 
Mr.  Tischnor,  the  constable  having  them  in  charge,  was  mo 
mentarily  absent,  but  several  of  the  jurors  hurried  into  the 


526  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

room.  Meantime  Mr.  J.  C.  Babbitt,  whose  room  (No.  17)  was 
only  next  door,  had  heard  the  sound,  and  suspecting  its  cause, 
also  came  in.  He  arrived  first  and  found  Mr.  Vallandigham 
alone  leaning  against  the  wall.  He  asked  what  had  happened. 

" '  I  have  foolishly  shot  myself/  said  the  wounded  man  as 
he  sank  into  a  chair.  'What  folly  it  was  to  try  such  an  ex 
periment  !  By  mistake  I  took  up  the  wrong  pistol.'  The  pistol 
had  dropped  from  his  hand  at  the  moment  he  fired,  and  was 
still  lying  on  the  floor.  The  other  one,  empty  and  harmless, 
lay  on  the  table. 

"A  moment  later,  three  or  four  jurors  came  in  with  Mr. 
McBurney,  and  found  Mr.  Yallandigham,  with  clothes  opened, 
feeling  along  his  abdomen  in  search  of  the  bullet.  He  remained 
thus  employed  and  explaining  the  mistake  he  had  made  for 
several  minutes,  when,  growing  faint,  he  was  laid  on  the  bed. 

"  In  the  meantime  messengers  had  been  despatched  for  phy 
sicians,  and  the  intelligence  got  out  in  town,  and  instantly  the 
streets  were  alive  with  persons  hurrying  to  the  hotel  to  ask  the 
truth  of  the  story  they  had  heard.  The  halls  were  crowded, 
and  the  anxious,  almost  terror-stricken  faces  of  the  persons 
inquiring  after  the  nature  of  the  wound  and  the  condition  of 
the  wounded  man,  made  it  apparent  to  the  most  casual  observer 
that  an  occurrence  of  no  ordinary  character  had  just  taken 
place. 

"  The  three  reporters  who  were  attending  the  trial  for  the 
Cincinnati  morning  papers  were  immediately  on  the  scene,  and 
upon  learning  the  nature  of  the  occurrence,  sped  the  news  on 
the  lightning's  wings  to  the  journals  they  represented.  An 
hour  later  the  news  of  that  occurrence  was  being  heralded  under 
the  waves  of  the  broad  Atlantic  to  the  people  of  the  Old  World. 

"  There  was  some  difficulty  in  finding  a  physician.  Three, 
five,  ten  minutes  elapsed  after  the  departure  of  the  messengers 
before  a  medical  man  appeared.  This,  too,  at  a  time  of  sus 
pense  —  a  time  when  minutes  became  hours  in  their  duration ; 
an  occasion  when  time  was  measured  by  the  heart's  pulsations  of 
a  wounded  man.  At  length,  however,  Dr.  Scoville  arrived, 
and  following  close  after  him  Dr.  Drake.  An  examination  of 
the  wound  and  a  hurried  consultation  followed,  and  the- prostrate 
man  was  informed  that  his  injuries  were  of  the  most  serious 
character,  though  they  hoped  that  they  might  not  prove  to  be 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIOHAM,  527 

" '  Has  the  ball  been  reached  ? '  said  he  to  the  physicians. 

" '  No,  it  has  not/  was  the  answer. 

" ( Has  it  entered  a  vital  part  ? ' 

" '  We  cannot  tell.' 

"  Closing  his  mouth  with  that  firmness  of  purpose  which  so 
characterised  him  in  everything,  he  expressed  a  wish  that  they 
would  ascertain  and  tell  him  the  worst  feature  that  the  case 
might  present. 

"  By  the  time  the  second  quarter  after  nine  had  struck,  the 
crowd  of  persons  to  the  room  of  the  wounded  man  was  so 
great  that  guards  had  to  be  placed  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs  below 
to  refuse  admittance  to  all  but  intimate  personal  friends.  Mr. 
Vallandigham's  condition  was  fast  becoming  worse,  and  the 
medical  men  were  unable  to  reach  the  ball  with  any  of  their 
surgical  appliances.  The  family  physician,  Dr.  J.  C.  Reeve, 
of  Dayton,  was  telegraphed  to  come  at  once  to  his  bedside, 
while  Dr.  "W.  W.  Dawson,  of  Cincinnati,  had  a  similar  sum 
mons  sent  to  him.  The  son,  the  law-partner,  and  several  of 
the  immediate  friends  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  were  advised  of 
his  condition  and  urged  to  come  at  once.  His  wife,  who  only 
a  few  hours  before  had  started  to  Baltimore  to  be  present  at 
the  burial  of  her  brother,  was  telegraphed  to,  although  his 
exact  condition  was  concealed  from  her.  Here  was  a  case  of 
life  or  death  trembling  in  the  balance,  and  science  seemed  to  be 
powerless. 

"  The  patient  at  this  time  asked  Mr.  M.  S.  Williamson  to 
remain  with  him  and  assist  in  moving  him  in  his  bed.  Others, 
too,  who  were  associated  with  him  in  his  professional  relations, 
were  requested  to  stay  by  his  side  and  help  to  alleviate  his 
suffering. 

"At  ten  o'clock  a  telegram  came  that  Dr.  Reeve  had  started 
with  the  son  of  the  wounded  man,  and  that  they  would  arrive 
by  midnight.  During  the  next  hour  the  symptoms  did  not 
appear  to  change  very  materially.  Frequent  examinations  are 
made  by  the  physicians,  the  wound  is  probed,  the  pulse  is  ob 
served,  the  respiration  taken,  and  finally  the  wounded  man  in 
formed  that  he  is  in  a  very  critical  condition,  and  that  if  he  has 
anything  to  say,  or  any  arrangements  to  make,  he  had  better 
lose  no  time. 

" '  Only  rid  me  of  this  pain  in  the  stomach  and  I'll  be  all 
right  again/  is  the  rejoinder.  The  struggle  of  4life  with  death 


528  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

has  begun.     The  might  of  man  begins  to  combat  with  that  of 
the  destroyer  of  man. 

"  From  eleven  to  twelve  o'clock  frequent  vomitings  ensue 
and  an  increase  of  pain.  Narcotics,  which  have  been  adminis 
tered  sparingly  hitherto,  are  now  doubled  in  the  doses,  and 
a  sort  of  lethargy  ensues.  The  hour  of  midnight  finds  the 
wounded  man  comparatively  easy,  but  with  accelerated  pulse 
and  frequent  and  short  breathing.  Soon  after  this  he  is  moved 
to  his  right  side,  and  a  hemorrhage  of  blood  follows,  a  hem 
orrhage  which  results  in  a  loss  of  half  a  pint  of  blood,  and 
reveals  the  terrible  nature  of  the  wound. 

"  A  little  past  one  Dr.  Reeve  arrives,  accompanied  •  by  the 
son  of  the  unfortunate  man.  The  family  physician  enters,  and 
with  his  practised  eye,  familiar  with  his  patient,  a  conclusion 
is  soon  arrived  at  —  the  wounded  man  must  die. 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  knew  him  and  greeted  him  cheerily. 
"'  Doctor,  is  my  wound  as  bad  as 'that  of  Jake  Rapp?' 
referring  to  a  man  on  whom  the  Doctor  had  attended,  and  who 
had  recovered. 

" '  Yes,  it  is  worse  than  t'hat.' 

"  '  Or  of  Lambert  ? '  referring  to  another  and  similar  one. 

" '  No,  not  worse  than  Lambert/ 

"  '"Well,  if  you  can  get  this  pain  from  my  stomach,  I  will 
get  along.'  This  with  his  peculiar  smile  of  self-reliance. 

"  At  this  juncture  Mr.  Vallandigham's  son  appeared  and 
entered  the  room.  On  approaching  the  bedside  of  his  father, 
tears  filled  the  eyes  of  the  young  man,  and  there  was  a  look 
of  tender  affection  from  those  of  the  parent  that  bespoke  the 
wealth  of  that  parent's  love. 

"  Placing  his  hand  on  the  head  of  his  boy,  he  fondled  for  a 
moment  the  object  of  his 'love.  { Charley/  said  he  fondly,  'be 
a  good  boy.'  After  a  short  time  he  again  turned  to  him,  say 
ing  :  '  You  are  tired ;  you  had  better  go  to  bed.' 

"  Weeping,  the  young  man  was  led  from  the  room. 

"Here  Dr.  Reeve  announced  to  his  patient  that  he  was 
soon  going  to  administer  some  more  opiates  to  him,  and  that 
if  he  had  anything  to  say  either  in  the  way  of  messages  to  his 
friends  or  in  relation  to  his  business  affairs,  he  had  better  do 
so  now.  All  who  were  in  the  room  left  the  wounded  man 
with  his  physician,  and  their  conference  continued  for  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes.  Of  course  what  transpired  then  and  there  is 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  529 

entitled  to  the  sanctity  of  privacy,  and  should  not  be  made 
public  even  if  we  were  able  to  do  so. 

"From  this  time  until  four  o'clock  there  was  but  little 
change  in  Mr.  Vallandigham's  condition.  His  breathing  grew 
more  labored,  his  pulse  quicker,  and  at  times  he  seemed  to  be 
in  great  pain.  About  two  o'clock,  Rev.  Mr.  Haight,  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  of  the  village,  called,  and  was  admitted. 
He  asked  the  doctor  if  he  might  be  allowed  to  speak  a  few 
words  to  the  wounded  man.  'No,  I  cannot  permit  it/  was 
the  reply. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham,  casting  a  glance  at  the  reverend  gen 
tleman,  appeared  to  appreciate  the  object  that  prompted  the 
visit. 

"  Mr.  Williamson  here  said  :  '  Mr.  Vallandigham,  I  sup 
pose  you  have  been  told  that  your  case  is  very  critical.  You 
oughtn't  to  be  discouraged,  though,  but  keep  your  spirits  up. 
That's  half  the  battle.' 

(( ( Yes,'  answered  the  sufferer,  closing  his  mouth  with  the 
old  well-known  expression  of  determination,  and  speaking  from 
between  his  clenched  teeth,  '  Yes,  sir,  it's  all  the  battle.'  He 
then  closed  his  eyes,  but  in  a  few  minutes  opened  them  again, 
fixing  his  gaze  steadily  on  Mr.  "Williamson's  countenance,  said 
in  the  same  tone,  but  enunciating  with  difficulty :  '  This  may 
be  all  right  yet.  •  I  may,  however,  be  mistaken,  .but  I  am  a 
firm  believer  in  that  good  old  Presbyterian  doctrine  of  pre 
destination.'  In  fact,  from  the  beginning,  the  strong,  deter 
mined  spirit  of  the  man — the  spirit  that  had  carried  him  safely 
through  many  a  well-known  perilous  complication,  and  done 
battle  for  the  right  on  many  a  hard-fought  field  —  defied  ap 
proaching  death,  and  fought  inch  by  inch  the  grim  spectre 
whose  gaunt  arms  were  already  closing  around  him  with  fatal 
grasp.  Said  a  gentleman  who  stood  by  his  bedside  during  the 
whole  of  that  awful  ordeal :  '  The  man  had  determined,  despite 
the  bullet  in  his  vitals,  despite  doctors'  opinions,  ay,  despite 
fate  itself,  not  to  die.'  During  all  this  time  and  up  to  with 
in  a  few  minutes  of  the  final  agony,  he  lay  with  compressed 
lips  and  closed  eyes,  and  bore  with  the  fortitude  of  an  Indian 
chief  the  agonies  of  death.  ISTot  a  groan  escaped  him,  nor  a 
word  save  in  answer  to  a  question,  or  when  giving  directions 
as  to  change  of  position. 

"  At  four  o'clock  A.  M.  the  symptoms  were  thought  to  be 

34 


530  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

more  alarming.  Several  friends  of  the  wounded  man,  who 
had  lain  down  to  get  a  snatch  of  sleep,  were  roused  up.  The 
son  appeared  at  the  bedside  again,  the  associates  in  trial  now  in 
progress,  Judge  Haynes,  his  professional  partner  Judge  Mc- 
Kemy,  and  several  other  intimate  personal  friends  who  had 
arrived  during  the  night,  were  grouped  about  the  room  and 
gathered  around  the  bed.  In  the  past  two  hours  a  very  notice 
able  change  had  come  over  the  appearance  of  the  wounded 
man.  His  breathing  was  still  more  difficult,  and  he  was  man 
ifestly  fast  losing  strength.  It  was  thought  that  his  hour  had 
come.  The  gray  dawn  of  morning  twilight  was  just  giving 
way  to  the  light  of  day.  In  the  trees  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  street  might  be  heard  the  song  of  birds,  and  the  sidewalks 
below  were  just  beginning  to  resound  to  the  footsteps  of  early- 
rising  pedestrians. 

"  By  the  side  of  the  bed,  and  fanning  his  father,  sat  young 
Vallandigham.  At  the  foot  sat  the  venerable  Judge  Smith ; 
on  either  side  were  his  professional  associates,  Judges  Haynes 
and  McKemy,  and  Messrs.  Hume,  Millikin,  and  others.  The 
sound  of  approaching  wheels  was  heard,  and  in  a  moment  the 
physician  who  had  been  summoned  from  Cincinnati  drove  up 
to  the  door.  A  moment  later  he  was  in  the  room.  He  had 
driven  twenty-eight  miles  through  the  dark  in  four  hours,  and 
found  out  that  the  patient  he  had  come  to  see  was  beyond 
human  power  to  save.  He  could  only  alleviate  the  suffering, 
not  cure  the  malady  of  him  whom  he  had  come  to  see. 

"  Five,  six  and  seven  o'clock  were  successively  struck,  and 
the  strong  man  lay  motionless,  and  seemingly  almost  insensible 
on  the  bed.  Once  or  twice  he  muttered  something  that  indi 
cated  that  his  mind  was  wandering,  but  at  no  time  did  courage 
seem  to  forsake  him.  It  seemed  to  be  a  struggle  for  life,  with 
the  odds  fearfully  against  it. 

1  ( Shortly  after  seven  o'clock  Tom  McGehan,  the  man  whom 
he  was  here  to  defend,  appeared  under  escort  of  an  officer  from 
the  jail.  The  man  charged  with  murder,  who  has  always  been 
represented  as  being  cold  and  remorseless  as  the  grave,  could 
not  repress  his  tears.  They  fell  thick  and  fast,  and,  weeping, 
he  was  led  from  the  room  back  to  his  cell.  '" 

"Nearly  at  the  same  time  McGehanVwife  and  children 
"were  admitted  to  gaze  upon  the  one  whom  they  had  hoped 
would  be  the  deliverer  of  their  father  and  husband,  but  who, 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  531 

in  his  zeal  for  their  cause,  had  taken  his  own  life.  This  was 
one  of  the  most  affecting  scenes  of  the  day. 

"  From  about  three  o'clock  this  morning  until  the  hour  of 
his  death  the  patient  seemed  to  suffer  intense  agony.  Although 
partially  under  the  influence  of  opiates,  he  was  still  conscious, 
and  would  readily  answer  the  few  questions  addressed  him  by 
his  friends  and  physicians. 

"  About  half-past  nine  o'clock,  after  an  unusually  violent 
struggle,  the  eyes  began  to  grow  glassy  and  the  face  to  assume 
that  rigidly  infallible  sign  of  death.  He  remained  perfectly 
quiet  in  this  position  for  about  fifteen  minutes,  when,  by  a 
sudden  movement,  the  body  stretched  its  full  length  in  the 
bed,  the  eyes  closed,  and  with  a  deep-drawn  sigh  the  dauntless 
soul  deserted  its  tenement  of  clay,  and  C.  L.  Yallandigham 
was  dead." 

The  foregoing  is  from  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer :  the  follow 
ing  from  the  Commercial,  giving  a  few  additional  incidents  of 
the  closing  scene : — 

"  The  first  stir  of  life  outside  was  the  twitter  of  swallows 
in  the  eaves.  The  cold,  gray  light  of  the  morning  disputed 
sway  with  the  burning  lamp,  but  when  that  was  removed  at 
last  as  no  longer  necessary,  it  seemed  to  have  consumed  the 
last  ray  of  light  in  the  face  of  the  dying  man.  A  deathly 
pallor  overspread  the  features;  the  finger  nails  of  the  right 
hand,  which  from  the  first  rested  on  the  pillow  beside  his  face, 
while  the  other  grasped  and  was  buried  in  the  bed-clothes, 
turned  blue.  The  time  of  dissolution  drew  nigh.  With  the 
earliest  light  came  hosts  of  friends.  The  hotel  was  again  filled 
with  visitors,  and  the  street  in  front  was  thronged  with  pity 
ing  people. 

"  But  that  terrible  waiting  for  death  was  sorely  protracted. 
It  was  a  heaviness  that  weighed  everybody  down,  and  will 
make  that  sad  morning  forever  memorable  in  the  houses  and 
homes  of  Lebanon. 

"  The  great  strong  nature  of  the  man  struggled  hard  with 
fate,  and  gallantly  contended  for  life.  Consciousness  was 
retained  almost  to  the  last  moment.  It  looked  out  clear  from 
those  once  magnificent  eyes,  and  sounded  in  the  intelligent 
answers  to  questions.  As  an  instance :  At  9  o'clock  too  much 


532  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

pressure,  by  leaning  on  the  foot  of  the  bed,  caused  one  of  the 
rollers  to  give  way,  thus  imparting  a  slight  jar  to  the 
prostrate  man. 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  opened  his  eyes,  and  turning  his  head, 
asked  distinctly :  l  What  is  that  ? ' 

"Earlier  in  the  morning  he  heard  some  one  winding 
a  watch.  Said  Mr.  Yallandigham  :  e  Judge  Hume,  have  my 
watch  wound  —  it  winds  in  the  stem/ 

"Around  the  bed  now  gathered  the  immediate  friends  — 
Judge  D.  A.  Haynes,  Judge  J.  E.  McKemy,  Jno.  M.  Sprigg, 
Mr.  Williamson,  Jas.  L.  Yallandigham  (lawyer)  of  Hamilton, 
Jas.  Yallandigham  (printer)  of  Hamilton,  Job.  E.  Owens, 
Judge  Hume,  Mr.  Millikin,  Mr.  McBurney,  Judge  Smith  of 
Lebanon,  Judge  Pope,  Drs.  Reeve,  Dawson,  Scoville  and 
Drake,  and  many  others. 

"  Charley  came  over  to  his  father's  left,  for  he  had  now  for 
the  first  time  since  being  placed  on  it  the  night  before,  turned 
off  his  right  side  and  lay  upon  his  back.  A  brief  struggle  : 
the  uneasy  rolling  of  the  head  and  movement  of  the  hands,  the 
labored  breathing,  the  glazing  eye,  the  tightening  of  the  skin 
upon  the  face  and  the  dropping  of  the  lower  jaw;  a  few 
groans  escaped  the  beautifully  arched  chest,  the  iris  disappeared, 
leaving  the  white  of  the  eye  only  to  be  seen,  a  few  gasps  for  the 
fast  fleeting  breath,  and  Clement  L.  Yallandigham  parted 
with  life." ' 

The  news  of  Mr.  Yallandigham's  death  was  everywhere 
received  with  the  deepest  and  most  intense  sorrow.  Men  of 
all  parties  sincerely  mourned  his  sudden  and  tragic  departure 
The  following  we  copy  from  the  Dayton  Ledger : — 

"  HOW   THE   NEWS   WAS    RECEIVED    IN   DAYTON. 

"  While  the  bulletins  were  flashing  all  the  forenoon  of  Satur 
day  their  thrilling  announcements  of  the  dying  condition  of 
the  distinguished  sufferer  at  Lebanon,  it  was  touching  and 
gratifying  to  note  how  nobly  and  with  one  voice  our  people 
evinced  in  their  anxiety,  their  eagerness  to  grasp  something  to 
build  a  hope  upon,  even  in  the  face  of  the  most  hopeless 
intelligence. 

"Upon  street   corners,  in  many  groups,  in  the  crowded 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  533 

market-place,  within  the  public  offices  of  the  city  and  county, 
in  the  rooms  of  the  dying  man's  professional  brethren,  as  well 
as  in  his  household  and  familiar  circles  —  over  all  hung  the 
cloud  of  coming  woe.  As  the  bolt  was  hurled  and  the  terrible 
suspense  was  terminated  by  the  stroke  of  death,  all  felt 
and  took  mournful  joy  in  repeating,  without  regard  to  creed 
or  political  principles  or  condition  of  life,  that  the  memory  of 
this  citizen  whose  fame  is  national,  would  ever  be  a  treasure  for 
each  townsman  who  had  enjoyed  the  honor  and  pleasure  of 
personal  intimacy. 

"  Tenderest  solicitude  was  constantly  uttered  for  the  darling 
boy  of  the  heroic  statesman  — i  for  Charley/  There  was  not  a 
man  whose  son  is  dear  to  him  who  did  not  breathe  a  deep  wish 
or  fervent  prayer  for  the  noble  lad  in  this  his  great  sorrow. 

"  For  the  stricken  wife,  whose  terrible  grief  was  even  thqn 
accumulating  upon  her  head,  not  a  woman  whose  husband  is 
near  and  dear  to  her  who  did  not  entreat  the  All-Merciful  to 
stay,  if  might  be,  the  heavy  hand  of  the  destroyer,  and  to  buoy 
up  with  the  grace  of  our  heavenly  Father  her A crushed  .and 
agonised  soul. 

"  It  is  one  of  the  noblest  traits  in  this  distinguished  T  man 
that  all  who  knew  him  most  loved  him  most.  Here  in  Dayton, 
where  the  most  intense  and  searching  criticism  has  been  daily 
maintained  over  his  life,  he  was  most  tenderly  beloved. 

"  This  intrepid  knight,  confronting  the  nation  with  aQ]  its 
warlike  energies  invoked,  in  his  convictions  of  right  and  his 
defence  of  constitutional  justice,  is  this  day,  and  for  many  years 
will  be,  mourned  with  the  deep,  heartfelt  blessings  of  the  poor 
and  friendless.  This  noble  champion  has  found  the  time  and 
means  throughout  his  eventful  life  to  wield  in  his  right  arm 
the  weapons  of  the  law  in  defence  of  many,  many  poor 
neighbors,  friendless  young  men,  many  a  poor  woman  of  plain - 
apparel  and  station,  and  earned  the  blessed  reward  of  the  tears 
of  grateful  poverty  which  fall  upon  the  tomb  of  the  trusty 
counsellor  whose  voice  is  now  hushed. 

"  Let  national  halls  and  civic  chambers  echo  the  well-earned 
praise  of  the  statesman ;  but  the  tender  affection  and  hearty 
sympathy  which  the  poor  in  life  feel  for  their  generous  and 
magnanimous  friend  in  need  are  worthy  to  be  reckoned  in  the 
jewels  of  the  fame  of  Clement  L.  Yallandigham. 

"  The  strong,  robust  nature  of  the  friendships  of  the  states- 


534  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

man  had  drawn  to  him  hosts  of  friends  who  '  were  grappled  to 
his  soul  with  hooks  of  steel.'  Never  was  there  a  man  whose 
public  contests  had  drawn  so  many  enemies  who  could  so  truly 
boast  the  e  friends  I  have  and  their  adoption  tried ?  are  mine 
still,  and  in  his  dying  hours  rallied  to  him  nobly  and  most 
knightly.  Around  his  bedside,  through  his  protracted  struggle 
with  the  last  enemy  by  night  and  by  day,  they  stood  by  him. 
Among  these  are  mentioned  Honorables  Judge  Haynes,  Judge 
McKemy,  Judge  Dwyer,  Messrs.  Gillespie,  Greble,  Bettelon, 
and  others. 

"  Special  mention  is  due  to  the  unwearied  exertions,  pro 
longed  and  exhaustive  as  only  the  physician's  are  of  the  family 
medical  attendant,  Dr.  J.  C.  Reeve.  At  the  first  summons  this 
heroic  man,  accompanied  by  the  heart- stricken  son,  repaired  in 
the  night  to  the  side  of  the  patient  and  reached  him  at  midnight. 
Throughout  the  night  and  until  the  afternoon  of  the  departure 
from  Lebanon  with  the  remains  for  home,  there  was  not  a 
moment  in  which  this  zealous  physician  was  not  in  active  and 
continuous  devotion  to  his  charge,  applying  all  that  the  art  of 
medicine  could  accomplish  for  relief,  and  watching  tenderly 
over  the  dying  man. 

"  But  Vallandigham  is  dead.  The  nation  weeps ;  and  well 
it ^  may,  for  it  has  lost  a  noble  son.  The  State  of  Ohio  where 
he  was  born  and  where  he  spent  the  best  and  most  active  years 
of  his  life,  the  city  of  Dayton  where  he  was  intimately  known 
and  beloved,  and  where  he  was  recognised  as  the  head  of  his 
profession  and  of  his  party,  feel  his  loss  most  keenly.  The 
earnest  sympathies  of  the  entire  community,  irrespective  of 
politics  or  religion,  are  tendered  the  widow  and  the  son  of  the 
illustrious  deceased. 

"  Vallandigham's  name  is  perhaps  as  widely  known  as  that 
of  any  other  public  man  of  the  United  States.  His  career  has 
been  eventful  and  varied.  His  public  course  has  been  con 
spicuous,  commanding  the  most  enthusiastic  admiration  of  some 
and  exciting  the  severest  denunciation  of  others.  He  was  a  man 
of  the  strongest  convictions,  unflinching  will  and  great  courage. 
The  whole  country  knows  his  qualities  as  a  statesman  and  the 
power  of  his  intellect. 

"As  a  lawyer  he  occupied  a  position  in  the  front-rank  of 
his  profession. 

"The  people  of  this   community  without   distinction  of 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  535 

party  feel  a  common  grief  at  the  sad  accident  which  so  suddenly 
terminated  his  life. 

"He  was  fast  extinguishing  by  his  manly  and  social  qualities 
all  the  asperities  that  existed  in  former  times,  and  the  regret 
felt  at  this  calamity  by  his  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens  is 
heartfelt  and  universal." 

A  little  after  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  mournful  cor 
tege,  escorting  all  that  was  mortal  of  Clement  L.  "Vallandigham 
started  from  Lebanon.  The  carriages  and  the  hearse  contain 
ing  his  remains  were  driven  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  about 
six  o'clock  approached  the  city  of  Dayton.  Several  gentlemen 
came  out  to  meet  the  body ;  and  it  is  probable  a  large  number 
would  have  come  had  it  not  been  for  the  dark  clouds  which 
had  been  gathering  all  afternoon,  and  which  now  hung  gloomily 
and  threateningly  over  the  city.  As  the  cortege  reached  the 
summit  of  a  hill,  so  that  those  composing  it  could  overlook 
Dayton,  a  dark  and  most  sombre  cloud  hung  over  the  city,  and 
blackened  the  sky  down  to  the  northern  horizon.  Against  the 
darkness  of  the  sky,  the  spires,  towers,  and  pinnacles  of  the 
churches  and  public  buildings  stood  out  so  ghastly  white,  like 
sheeted  ghosts,  by  the  contrast,  that  it  was  startlingly  awful  in 
appearance ;  and  as  they  entered  the  city,  a  fearful  storm  burst 
over  them,  the  thunders  rolled  solemnly  above  their  heads,  the 
lightning  flashed  frightfully,  and  the  rain  poured  down  in  tor 
rents  ;  and  thus,  amid  the  wild  convulsions  of  the  elements, 
Clement  L.  Vallandigham  was  carried  to  his  home,  never  more 
to  enlighten  it  by  his  genial  presence  in  life,  nor  make  it  happy 
by  his  kind  hospitality.  In  gloomy  silence,  the  mournful 
burden  was  borne  through  the  door  and  deposited  in  the  room 
which  so  many  times  had  been  made  joyous  by  his  pleasant 
humor,  and  where  he  had  spent  so  many  delightful  hours  of 
domestic  happiness. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE    FUNERAL. 

THE  funeral  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham  took~place~in 
Dayton  on  June  20,  1871.  It  was  an  occasion  of  the  deepest 
solemnity,  eloquently  testifying  to  his  great  virtues,  his  wide 
popularity.  The  city  was  thronged  with  sincere  mourners. 
From  the  east,  the  west,  the  north,  the  south,  crowded  trains 
came  in  the  night  preceding,  and  the  morning  of  the  sad  day 
brought  new  hosts.  Delegations  from  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis, 
Chicago,  and  other  Western  cities  arrived  by  every  train,  and 
the  hotels  were  filled  to  overflowing.  From  the  country 
around  Dayton  great  numbers  of  persons  flocked  in,  and  early 
in  the  day  the  streets  were  massed  with  people,  and  the  broad 
avenues  alive  with  vehicles  of  all  descriptions,  the  general  in 
terest  and  feeling  deepening  with  each  hour.  Never  before 
was  so  great  a  multitude  assembled  at  a  funeral  in  this  region, 
and  touching  indeed  was  the  feeling  of  sorrow  which  seemed 
to  pervade  the  vast  concourse.  Dayton  was  a  mourning  city ; 
many  of  her  houses  draped  in  black,  and  the  national  flag  tied 
with  crape,  floating  from  the  cornice  of  the  Court  House; 
business  was  entirely  suspended,  stores  and  public  buildings 
being  closed,  and  an  atmosphere  of  gloom  overshadowing  all. 
Faces  were  grave  with  regret  and  voices  hushed  into  tender 
ness,  while  the  people  went  about  the  streets  talking  of 


LIFE  OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  537 

Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  his  nobleness,  his  charity,  his  legal 
ability,  his  eloquence,  his  courage,  his  good  and  great  gifts  — 
all  were  recounted  with  an  earnestness  which  of  itself  told 
unerringly  how  deeply  he  was  revered  and  beloved.  In  the 
general  sorrow  which  prevailed,  political  differences  and  anta 
gonisms  seemed  to  melt  away.  Republicans  met  with  Demo 
crats  in  hearty  regret  for  him  who  had  gone,  remembering  only 
his  nobleness,  his  high  graces  of  mind  and  heart.  All  ages, 
classes,  and  religious  sects  knew  no  division  in  their  sorrow, 
no  separation  in  their  yearning  wish  to  do  him  honor. 

At  9  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  June  20th,  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham's  residence  on  First  street  was  opened  to  the  public,  thus 
affording  all  an  opportunity  of  looking  upon  him  for  the  last 
time.  That  peaceful,  happy  home !  amongst  its  beautiful 
flowers  and  clustering  shrubbery  it  stood  saddened  and  desolate. 
He  wrho  had  ever  given  his  friends  true  welcome  within  its 
walls  was  indeed  there,  but  how  changed !  Silent  the  eloquent 
lip,  closed  the  beaming  eyes,  and  stilled  forever  the  warm, 
brave  heart.'  In  his  last  sleep  he  lay,  within  the  hall  of  his 
home,  attired  for  the  grave,  his  face  calm,  composed,  bring 
ing  back  clearly  the  man  so  truly  revered  by  the  vast  crowd 
which  slowly  and  sadly  filed  past. 

On  a  catafalque  covered  with  black  velvet,  and  placed  in  the 
centre  of  the  hall,  rested  the  coffin.    It  was  of  rosewood,  richly 
and  beautifully  finished ;  on  each  side  were  four  massive  silver 
handles  with  silver  tassels;  it  was  ornamented  with  Masonic 
emblems,  engraved  on  silver  shields  set  between  the  handles. 
On  the  lid  was  a  broad  plate  with  the  inscription : — 
CLEMENT  LAIKD  VALLANDIGHAM. 
Born  July  29^,  1820. 
Died  June  17th,  1871. 


538  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

From  9  o'clock  for  some  hours  an  unbroken  tide  of  people 
passed  through  the  hall.  It  was  an  immense  motley  crowd, 
but  swayed  by  deepest  feeling ;  strong  men  and  gentle  women 
burst  into  tears  as  they  gazed  for  the  last  time  upon  the  dead. 
He  had  been  an  idol  amongst  them,  enthroned  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  as  few  public  men  have  ever  been  or  can  ever 
be. 

Through  the  hall  the  visitors  passed  out  to  the  side  piazza, 
and  from  thence  through  the  yard  of  the  house  next  on  the 
east,  a  portion  of  the  fence  having  for  the  time  been  taken 
down.  About  the  hour  of  11  A.  M.,  the  doors  of  Mr.  Val- 
landigham's  home  were  closed  to  all  persons,  and  preparations 
commenced  for  the  last  rites.  Meanwhile,  the  streets  through 
which  the  funeral  cortege  was  to  pass  were  closely  lined  with 
people  and  vehicles.  Each  arriving  train  swelled  the  multi 
tude  ;  numbers  came  from  Toledo,  Cleveland,  Chillicothe,  and 
densely  crowded  trains  from  Springfield,  Hamilton,  and  Cin 
cinnati.  The  Court  House  steps-  and  the  balconies  of  the 
hotels  were  filled  long  before  the  procession  was  formed. 

The  funeral  service  began  at  1  o'clock.  The  coffin  had 
been  taken  from  the  hall  to  the  parlor,  where  were  gathered 
sorrowing,  sympathising  friends.  The  house  was  crowded, 
while  the  piazza,  the  front  and  side  yards,  the  pavement  and 
streets,  were  thronged  with  people.  By  the  time  the  service 
began,  the  crowd  in  the  street  in  front  of  the  house  had 
increased  to  thousands  of  men,  women  and  children.  Opposite 
the  house,  and  for  squares,  was  a  compact  mass  of  human 
beings,  anxious  to  look  once  again  upon  the  well-known  face 
of  their  beloved  fellow-citizen.  When  the  Masonic  Order 
came  up,  with  members  of  the  Dayton  Bar,  and  other  societies 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  539 

following,  it  became  necessary  for  the  marshals  of  the  day, 
assisted  by  the  police,  to  clear  the  way ;  this  was  done,  however, 
quietly,  and  without  trouble.  The  funeral  ceremonies  were 
conducted  by  Rev.  E.  P.  "Wright,  Rector  of  Christ  Church, 
who  read  the  Episcopal  burial-service.  In  his  white  surplice 
he  stood  in  the  front  door-way,  and  the  solemn  and  beautiful 
words  sounded  distinctly  throughout  the  house,  and  reached 
the  dense  crowd  outside,  listening  in  reverential  silence  and 
with  uncovered  heads. 

The  service  concluded  at  half-past  one,  and  the  casket  was 
carried  to  the  hearse  by  the  eight  pall-bearers  —  Hon.  George 
E.  Pugh,  David  A.  Houk,  John  Howard,  Samuel  Craighead, 
Elihu  Thomson,  O.  C.  Maxwell,  D.  K.  Boyer,  and  W.  H.  Gil- 
lespie  —  all  of  them  residents  of  Dayton,  with  the  exception 
of  George  E.  Pugh,  of  Cincinnati.  The  lid  of  the  casket  was 
covered  by  wreaths  of  flowers,  exquisitely  mingled  with  Eng 
lish  ivy  and  lilies,  while  clusters  of  pure  white  flowers  were 
grouped  about  in  the  hearse,  which  was  of  ebony  and  silver. 
At  a  quarter  before  two,  the  funeral  procession  moved  in  the 
following  order: 

Grand  Marshal.  City  Police. 

Knights  Templar  Brass  Band. 

The  Masonic  Order. 

Hearse         and         Pall-bearers. 

The  Clergy  in  carriages. 

The  mourners  in  carriages  occupied  the  usual  place.  They 
consisted  of  the  following  persons,  Mrs.  Vallandigham  not 
being  in  a  condition  to  attend :  1st.  Charles  JST.  Vallandigham, 
his  son,  Judge  D.  A.  Haynes,  his  law-partner,  and  his  two 


540  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLAKDIGHAM. 

brothers,  the  Rev.  James  L.  Vallandigham  and  Dr.  George  S. 
Vallandigham ;  2d.  Mrs.  M.  E.  Robertson,  his  sister,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Oilman,  and  Miss  Maggie  Robertson,  nephew  and  nieces ; 
3d.  Dr.  Irving  S.  Vallandigham,  James  L.  Robertson,  Esq., 
Dr.  John  S.  Robertson,  and  J.  L.  "Vallandigharn,  Esq., 
nephews ;  4th.  Dr.  R.  S.  McKaig,  John  A.  McMahon,  Esq., 
and  John  M.  Sprigg,  Esq.,  relatives  of  Mrs.  Vallandigham. 
The  remainder  of  the  procession  was  made  up  of  the  Bar  of 
Ohio  (of  whom  there  were  said  to  be  500  in  line),  the  Eschol 
Lodge,  I.  O.  B.  B.,  a  Hebrew  organization  of  Dayton,  the 
members  of  the  Dayton  Bar,  citizens  on  foot  and  citizens  in 
carriages,  making  a  line  of  immense  length.  The  procession 
was  over  half  an  hour  in  passing  the  Court  House,  moving 
without  making  a  single  pause.  Here  alone  the  carriages 
numbered  one  hundred  and  thirty-one,  and  every  cross  street 
sending  in  an  additional  stream,  the  number  of  carriages  that 
gathered  at  the  cemetery  must  have  reached  three  hundred. 
Not  a  few  also  of  the  hundreds  of  yeomanry  united  with  the 
procession  as  it  moved  on  its  solemn  way. 

To  his  last  earthly  rest  so  passed  Clement  Laird  Vallandig 
ham.  Through  the  streets  which  never  again  should  know  his 
quick,  firm  step  —  beneath  the  shadow  of  homes  where  his 
name  had  been  a  household  word,  and  his  presence  ever 
a  delight  —  along  the  avenues  of  the  beautiful  city,  for  years  his 
chosen  home,  he  went  —  to  "the  City  of  the  Dead" — a 
great  multitude  following  him,  and  sorrowing  "that  they 
should  see  his  face  no  more."  O  scene  of  tender,  affecting 
solemnity  !  The  soft  summer  sky  overhead,  the  hushed  city, 
the  stately  hearse,  the  long  line  of  carriages,  the  imposing 
column  of  societies,  orders,  and  officials,  the  vast  throng  of 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  541 

mourning  people,  all  thrilled  by  one  common  sorrow,  stricken 
by  one  mighty  bereavement !  Slowly  the  sad  procession  moved 
on,  reaching  at  last  the  grave  in  Woodland  Cemetery.  This 
was  in  Mr.  Vallandigham's  lot  near  the  centre  of  the  cemetery, 
a  beautiful  spot.  Here  in  expectation  of  the  great  attendance, 
ropes  had  been  put  across,  within  which  only  the  family,  im 
mediate  friends,  and  persons  directly  interested  in  the  last  rites, 
were  admitted.  On  arriving  at  the  grave,  the  family  and 
nearest  friends  placed  themselves  beside  the  casket  on  one 
side,  whilst  the  remaining  sides  within  the  ropes  were  occupied 
by  tin  members  of  the  Bar  and  the  members  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  who  defiled  in  two  lines.  All  being  in  readiness, 
the  Master  of  the  Masons,  with  the  Chaplain  and  others  selected 
to  conduct  the  last  ceremonies,  advanced  from  the  outer  circle 
to  the  edge  of  the  grave,  and  repeated  the  touching  burial- 
service  of  the  ancient  order.  Then  as  the  last  words  of  the 
prayer  died  away,  the  subdued  slipping  of  the  ropes  was  heard 
as  they  were  drawn  out  from  beneath  the  casket.  Now  came 
each  Mason,  according  to  their  ancient  rites,  casting  into  the 
tomb  the  little  green  sprig,  telling  of  their  ever-living  regard 
for  the  memory  of  their  beloved  and  honored  brother.  And 
then  what  remained  but  "dust  to  dust,  earth  to  earth"?  —  the 
"  clods  of  the  valley  "  covering  the  precious  remains  and  hid 
ing  them  from  mortal  sight !  And  while  mourning  friends 
slowly  returned  to  their  carriages,  and  the  sad  dirges  of  the 
band  \vere  heard,  the  great  crowd,  sweeping  away  the  slight 
barriers,  began  to  press  round  the  grave,  eager  to  see  the  spot 
where  had  been  laid  the  man  they  loved  and  admired  so  truly. 
And  is  this  then  the  very  last  of  earth  for  him  ?  Even  so ; 
he  has  passed  from  the  stage  of  life,  and  "  the  places  which  knew 


542  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

him  once,  shall  know  him  no  more  again  forever."  Farewell, 
then,  pure  patriot  soul !  true,  brave  heart,  farewell !  He  has 
gone ;  but  we  catch  the  echo  of  his  words,  long  ago  spoken, 
though  with  a  different  meaning,  yet  we  would  write  them  on 
our  hearts,  and  with  the  eye  of  faith  read  them  above  the  tomb 
where  he  sleeps  so  well : — 

"  '  Resurgam?  I  shall  rise  again. 
And  it  will  be  a  glorious  resurrection" 

The  following  interesting  incident  in  connection  with  the 
funeral,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  record.  On  that  day 
a  large  mass-meeting  of  the  Democracy  was  assembled  at  St. 
Clairsville.  General  George  W.  Morgan,  a  political  and 
personal  friend  of  Mr.  Yallandigham,  was  to  address  the 
meeting.  He  took  the  stand  at  2  o'clock,  just  as  the  funeral 
procession  was  pursuing  its  sad  and  solemn  march  to  the  silent 
city  of  the  dead,  and  commenced  thus : — 

"  Fellow- Citizens : — -Death  has  suddenly  removed  from  the 
scenes  of  action  one  of  our  most  distinguished  statesmen.  Yal 
landigham  is  no  more.  Never  again  will  his  voice  be  heard  in 
council.  Never  more  will  the  people  be  inspired  by  the  mag 
netism  of  his  presence,  or  roused  to  action  by  the  inspiration  of 
his  eloquence.  He  is  dead,  but  his  name  will  live  in  the  hearts 
of  his  countrymen.  Now  while  I  speak  a  vast  concourse  of  his 
mourning  friends  and  admirers  are  following  his  remains  to  the 
tomb.  In  respect  for  his  memory  let  us  stand  uncovered  while 
his  remains  are  being  placed  in  their  last  earthly  home.  [The 
entire  crowd  rose  to  their  feet.]  The  sod  of  the  valley  now 
rests  upon  his  bosom,  but  his  spirit  is  with  us  here  to-day, 
and  the  highest  eulogy  we  can  pay  to  him  will  be  to  faithfully 
continue  battling  for  the  cause  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
people." 

"We  have  already  mentioned  that  Mrs.  Vallandigham  was 
not  in  a  condition  to  attend  the  funeral  of  her  husband.  ^  Sen- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  543 

sitive  and  delicate  by  nature,  her  terrible  bereavement  crushed 
her  to  the  very  earth.  She  received  the  tidings  of  her  beloved 
husband's  death  while  standing  beside  the  coffin  of  an  endeared 
brother.  And  so  from  "  the  house  of  mourning/'  she  went  to 
her  own  desolated  home  in  Dayton — a  long  and  weary  journey, 
which  told  heavily  upon  her  exhausted  strength  and  stricken 
heart.  For  some  weeks  after  her  husband's  funeral,  Mrs.  Val- 
landigham  was  confined  to  her  bed  from  prostration  induced 
by  the  bitter  calamity  which  had  so  cruelly  swept  over  her. 
When  her  strength  seemed  a  little  to  return,  upon  medical 
advice,  she  was  taken  by  her  friends  to  her  early  home  in  Cum 
berland,  Maryland,  and  all  hoped  the  change  of  scene  and  resi 
dence  would  soothe  and  revive  her.  But  the  wound  was  too 
deep  for  any  "balm"  to  reach,  the  shadow  too  dark  ever  to  be 
lifted.  Day  by  day  she  faded,  her  frail  hold  on  life  relaxing, 
her  strength  ebbing,  until  at  last  the  weary  heart  ceased  its 
throbbings,  and  was  forever  at  rest.  Mrs.  Vallandigham  died 
on  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  August,  peacefully  falling 
asleep  —  the  last  letter  her  beloved  husband  had  written  her 
closely  clasped  to  her  breast.  Thus  she  left  what  had  become 
to  her  a  world  of  sorrow  and  sighing.  Not  long  "  divided  by 
death's  cold  stream  "  from  the  husband  of  her  love,  she  crossed 
over  after  him,  "to  where  beyond  those  waters  it  is  peace." 
And  so  with  her  "  it  is  well." 


CHAPTEE  XXIY. 

TEIBUTES    TO    HIS    MEMOEY. 

THE  news  of  the  tragic  death  of  Mr.  Yallandigham  pro 
duced  a  profound  sensation  all  over  the  country.  Scarcely  a 
newspaper  of  any  reputation  in  the  land  failed  to  pay  some 
tribute  to  his  memory.  A  large  number  of  Bar  meetings  and 
meetings  of  citizens  were  held  in  various  places,  where  most 
flattering  testimonials  were  rendered  to  the  many  excellences  of 
his  character  and  his  abilities.  It  may  not  perhaps  be  usual  to 
publish  in  biographies  such  testimonials  and  newspaper  tributes ; 
yet  as  future  generations  must  judge  of  a  man  not  only  by  the 
lets  of  his  life,  but  also  by  the  opinions  expressed  by  those 
3ontemporary  with  him  and  the  feelings  developed  by  his  death, 
wv  venture  to  lay  before  our  readers  such  testimonials  and  tri 
butes  to  his  memory  as  have  been  brought  to  our  notice. 

"MEETING  OF  THE  BAR. 

"Dayton,  0.,  June  19,  1871. 

"A  meeting  of  the  bar  was  held  this  morning.  Hon.  S. 
Bolton  in  a  few  appropriate  words  announced  to  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  the  death  of  Yallandigham,  and  in  accordance 
with  his  motion  the  Court  adjourned  until  next  Friday  in  respect 
to  the  memory  of  the  deceased.  In  the  Superior  Court,  Samuel 
Craighead,  Esq.,  alluded  in  a  feeling  manner  to  the  death  of 
Vallandigham,  accompanying  the  motion  for  an  adjournment 
with  a  strong  and  eloquent  tribute  to  his  memory. 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  545 

"  Judge  Lowe  made  the  following  response : 

"In  the  remarks  and  suggestions  which  have  just  been 
made  I  perfectly  agree.  The  terrible  accident  which  has  brought 
death  to  our  friend  and  brother,  and  unfeigned  sorrow  to  in 
numerable  hearts  throughout  this  broad  land  of  ours,  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  weighs  so 
heavily  upon  us  who  were  his  familar  friends,  that  the  per 
formance  of  our  ordinary  duties  in  this  place,  for  the  present 
at  least,  is  impossible.  While  I  have  at  this  time  no  formal 
eulogy  to  pronounce  upon  Mr.  Vallandigham,  I  am  constrained 
to  add  a  lew  words  to  the  testimony  of  the  great  multitude 
who  everywhere  are  reminding  themselves  and  others  of  his 
virtues  and  sorrowing  over  his  untimely  end.  Of  his  abilities 
as  a  lawyer  and  an  orator  it  is  needless  to  speak.  They  have 
secured  for  him  an  honored  name,  not  only  throughout  our 
nation,  but  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken  through 
out  the  world.  We,  however,  have  seen  and  known  him  also 
amid  the  gentle  amenities  of  social  life,  and  we  know,  what 
perhaps  the  world  does  not,  that  he  was  an  affectionate  and 
faithful  husband,  a  most  tender  father,  a  kindly  neighbor,  a 
just  and  upright  citizen.  We  know  the  warmth  of  his  attach 
ment  to  his  friends  and  the  readiness  with  which  his  heart  re 
sponded  to  every  manifestation  of  personal  regard,  that  kindness 
always  melted  him  as  the  sun  the  snow.  When  we  remember 
the  stormy  life  he  lived,  his  firm  belief  that  Providence  was 
still  preparing  and  training  him  for  distinguished  usefulness, 
and  that  prosperity  in  the  future  would  make  ample  amends  for 
disappointment  in  the  past,  we  can  easily  understand  his  ex 
pression  of  confidence  during  Friday  night  that  God  would 
not  allow  such  an  accident  at  such  a  time  to  end  his  life,  and 
we  stand  in  awe  and  wonder  at  the  different  ordering  of  Him 
who  is  indeed  inscrutable  and  whose  ways  are  past  finding  out. 
To  me,  as  his  friend,  it  is  a  matter  affording  great  satisfaction 
to  know  that  to  the  end  of  life,  amidst  all  the  sophistries  of 
modern  infidelity,  he  held  fast  to  the  faith  in  God  and  His  Holy 
Word,  and  in  His  Son,  the  Divine  Saviour  of  mankind,  which 
he  received  in  childhood  at  his  mother's  knee.  Could  the 
silent  lips  now  speak,  they  would  say,  as  we  must,  *  that  while 
God's  ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  yet  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth 
surely  doeth  right.7  At  this  moment  Burke's  solemn  reflection 
rises  naturally  to  our  lips,  'What  shadows  we  are,  what 

35 


546  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

shadows  we  pursue ! '  We  look  forward  upon  our  pathway  as 
shining  before  us  through  distant  years,  when  perhaps  an 
open  grave  yawns  at  our  very  feet.  A  man's  heart  deviseth 
his  way,  but  the  Lord  directeth  his  steps.  Shall  not  each  one 
of  us  be  instructed  by  this  most  sudden  mournful  event, 

4  To  so  live 

That  when  the  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  which  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  Death, 
We  go  not,  like  the  quarry  slaves,  at  night, 
Scourged  to  their  dungeons ;  but,  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  the  grave 
Like  one  that  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams '  ? 

"  The  Court  thereupon  adjourned  until  Wednesday  morn 
ing  at  nine  o'clock. 

"At  the  bar-meeting  this  afternoon,  Senator  Peter  Odlin 
alluded  to  the  excellent  character  of  the  deceased.  There  was 
no  man  living  in  his  day  that  commanded  more  intensely  the 
attachment  of  his  friends  than  Mr.  Vallandigham. 

"  Mr.  Odlin  also  paid  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  courage  and 
sincerity  of  the  deceased,  and  waiving  the  political  difference 
which  he  had  with  him,  acknowledged  the  mark  that  he  had 
made  upon  his  own  age  in  whatever  capacity  he  had  appeared. 
But  Mr.  Odlin  paid  an  especial  tribute  to  his  manliness  as  a 
member  of  the  legal  profession,  how  free  he  was  from  every 
thing  that  was  not  honest  and  true ;  how  sincere,  square  and 
pecuniarily  incorruptible  he  always  appeared,  and  really  was. 
From  this  he  touchingly  glided  into  the  peculiarly  accumulated 
griefs  which  had  fallen  upon  Mr.  "Ws  wife  and  family,  adding 
to  the  death  of  a  brother  that  also  of  a  husband. 

"  A  committee  was  appointed  to  report  resolutions  expressive 
of  the  feelings  of  the  Dayton  bar,  consisting  of  the  following 
gentlemen :  Geo.  W.  Houk,  Lewis  B.  Gunckel,  Henderson 
Elliott,  Samuel  Bolton,  J.  H.  Baggott,  E.  W.  Davies,  E.  S. 
Young,  Adam  Clay,  and  George  W.  Moyer.  The  meeting  then 
adjourned  till  to-morrow  at  10  o'clock. 

"  MEETING   OF    THE    BAR. 

"  June  20. 

"  The  members  of  the  Dayton  bar  met  in  adjourned  meeting 
at  the  court-house  at  ten  o'clock,  many  celebrated  lawyers  and 


LIFE  OF  CLEMENT  L.  VALLANDIGHAM.     547 

jurists  from  abroad  being  in  attendance.  "We  have  seldom  seen 
a  sadder  assemblage  of  men  gathered  in  a  single  apartment. 
There  were  young  lawyers  just  starting  in  the  profession,  and 
aged  jurists  who  had  climbed  the  dizzy  steeps  of  fame,  sitting 
side  by  side  and  sharing  in  the  common  sorrow.  The  appear 
ance  of  the  meeting  was  inexpressibly  pathetic. 

"  Hon.  Peter  Odlin  occupied  the  chair.  He  stated  that  a 
committee  had  been  appointed  the  previous  day  to  draft  resolu 
tions  to  be  reported  at  the  present  meeting.  Distinguished 
gentlemen  were  present,  and,  as  the  committee  were  not  entirely 
prepared  for  their  report,  it  wrould  give  those  present  great 
pleasure  to  hear  from  some  of  them  in  regard  to  their  deceased 
brother.  All  would  be  very  happy  to  listen  to  some  remarks 
from  Judge  Thurman. 

"  Senator  Thurman  arose,  and,  with  visible  emotion,  spoke 
as  follows : — 

"  Mr.  Chairman : — At  a  bar  meeting  like  this,  composed  of 
gentlemen  of  different  political  sentiments,  assembled  to  pay  a 
tribute  of  respect  to  a  deceased  professional  brother,  any  remarks 
other  than  those  touching  his  professional  character,  or  his 
character  as  a  man,  would  obviously  be  out  of  place.  I  suppose 
that  this  consideration  must  necessarily  abbreviate  what  I  have 
to  say,  if  indeed  brevity  were  not  greatly  to  be  desired  on  this 
occasion. 

"  Of  the  professional  character  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  I  have 
no  personal  knowledge.  I  never  saw  him  try  a  case ;  I  never 
heard  him  make  a  legal  argument.  I  have  read  some  of  his 
printed  arguments  that  were  characterised  by  that  force  of  mind, 
that  felicity  of  expression  that  marked  every  production  of  his 
pen.  But  in  the  actual  struggles  of  the  bar  I  never  saw  him  in 
my  life.  And  yet  I  know  he  must  have  been  a  great  lawyer 
by  the  reputation  he  attained  in  a  city  whose  bar  is  second  to 
none  in  the  State,  and  where  no  ordinary  man  could  attain  the 
standard  he  attained.  And  I  also  know  it  well  from  my 
knowledge  of  the  man  himself — a  knowledge  extending 
through  thirty  years  of  his  life.  I  know  he  had  that  quickness 
of  apprehension,  that  grasp  of  mind,  that  sturdiness  of  pur 
pose,  that  earnestness  of  will,  that  felicity  of  expression,  that 
magnetic  eloquence  and  that  untiring  industry  which  could  not 
fail  to  achieve  success  at  the  bar,  when  coupled  with  an  integ 
rity  of  character,  both  in  his  public  and  private  career,  which 
no  man  ever  called  in  question. 


548  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLAKDIGHAM. 

"  I  know,  therefore,  that  he  must  have  been  a  great  lawyer. 
I  saw  evidences  of  it  in  the  sad  circumstance  that  produced  his 
death ;  for  he  had  one  remarkable  trait  of  character  that  per 
haps  brought  him  to  his  untimely  end.  In  whatever  cause  he 
embarked — be  it  political,  be  it  moral,  be  it  professional  — 
he  threw  his  whole  soul  into  it.  It  seemed  impossible  for  it 
to  be  otherwise.  Many  a  time  have  I  met  him  in  political 
conventions,  or  in  social  intercourse,  when  political  or  moral 
subjects  became  the  topic  of  conversation.  Many  a  time  I  have 
agreed  with  him,  but  not  infrequently  have  I  disagreed.  And 
yet  I  could  not  help  being  struck  with  the  fact,  that  however 
much  to  my  mind  it  might  appear  untrue,  he  never  failed  to 
be  thoroughly  convinced  of  its  truth  himself.  His  miud  was 
so  constituted  that  his  theories  were  truth  itself  to  him.  how 
ever  much  to  others  they  might  seem  unsound. 

"  And  now,  with  that  eagerness  of  mind,  that  ardor  to  which 
I  have  alluded,-  he  prosecuted  every  cause  which  he  espoused, 
and  I  can  not  help  thinking,  after  reading  with  careful  and 
painful  interest  the  circumstances  of  his  death,  that  he  owed  it 
to  this  trait  of  his  character.  He  had  a  theory  of  the  defence 
of  his  client,  whether  right  or  wrong  I  know  not,  and  if  I  had 
an  opinion  in  regard  to  the  matter  it  would  not  be  proper  to 
express  it.  But  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  truth  itself  to  him. 
I  have  no  doubt  it  was  as  a  revelation  to  him.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  he  believed  it  as  much  as  he  believed  in  his  own 
existence,  and  that  in  his  eagerness  to  impress  that  belief  on 
others,  in  that  ardor  with  which  he  threw  himself  into  his 
cause,  in  the  efforts  which  he  made  to  impress  upon  his  asso 
ciate  counsel,  not  only  the  probability,  but  the  actual  truth  of 
his  theory,  he  lost  that  prudence  which  characterises  most  men, 
and  seized  and  made  fatal  use  of  that  weapon  by  which  he 
came  to  his  untimely  end. 

"  Mr.  President,  many  a  lawyer  has  lost  his  health,  and 
even  his  life,  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession,  by  an  overworked 
brain,  by  sickness  contracted  in  the  exposure  that  sometimes 
attends  a  professional  career.  By  agitation  of  mind,  loss  of 
happiness,  and  sometimes  loss  of  friendship,  men  have  become 
wearied  of  life  and  sunk  gradually  into  the  grave.  But  no 
man  that  I  ever  knew,  or  ever  heard  of,  lost  his  life  in  so 
dramatic  and  heroic  an  exercise  of  his  profession ;  no  man  ever 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM.  549 

had  so  thorough  and  complete  an  absorption  in  his  cause  as  our 
friend. 

"  Most  grateful  to  his  friends  is  the  fact  that,  without  re 
gard  to  party,  without  regard  to  political  subjects,  without 
regard  to  any  subject  whatever,  there  is  now  one  universal 
voice  of  lament,  one  universal  expression  of  sorrow  through 
out  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 

"  At  the  conclusion  of  Senator  Thurman's  speech  Judge 
McKemy,  of  Dayton,  spoke  briefly  and  feelingly  in  eulogy  of 
the  deceased,  alluding  to  the  kind  relations  that  had  always 
existed  between  himself  and  Mr.  Vallandigham. 

"  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox,  of  New  York,  formerly  an  honored  son 
of  Ohio,  was  called  upon.  He  spoke  in  his  usual  eloquent 
manner,  his  voice  being  frequently  inaudible  fro:.ii  profound 
feeling. 

"  He  said:— 

"  Mr.  President : —  I  have  been  some  two  nights  and  a  day 
upon  the  cars  coming  hither,  and  I  am  almost  unfitted  by 
reason  of  physical  exhaustion,as  well  by  reasons  of  an  emo 
tional  nature,  from  making  any  consecutive  speech,  or  even 
linking  consecutive  thought.  Judge  Thurman  has  well  defined 
the  lines  of  character  that  marked  Mr.  Vallandigham.  He 
spoke  specially  about  his  relations  to  the  bar  and  his  legal 
accomplishments.  In  that  high  forum  he  showed  those  char 
acteristics  which  came,  I  think,  from  his  early  rigid  Presby 
terian  discipline. 

"But  I  think,  Mr.  President,  it  would  be  unjust  were  I  not 
to  say  —  what  has  doubtless  occurred  to  gentlemen  more  in 
timately  and  recently  associated  with  him ""  here  —  that  within 
the  last  few  years  he  toned  to  a  better  harmony  many  of  the 
attributes  belonging  to  our  discordant  partisan  politics.  I  think 
that  members  of  the  bar,  with  whom  he  differed,  as  he  did  with 
me  often  on  political  matters  —  I  think  that  members  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  especially  gentlemen  of  the  opposite 
party,  have  found  that  as  he  grew  older  he  had  a  larger  hu 
manity. 

"  As  time  walked  along  with  him,  hand  in  hand,  it  seemed 
that  his  character  became  more  mellow,  graceful  and  gentle. 
It  seems  to  me  that  that  is  the  experience  of  our  friends  here 


550  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

who  are  listening  so  intently  to  my  words.  It  is  this  ripe, 
mellow  and  graceful  finale  to  his  life  of  struggle  which  makes 
this  the  most  mournful  day  Ohio  ever  knew.  In  our  early 
associations,  Mr.  President,  especially  in  Congress  during  the 
war,  he  showed  those  rigid  outlines  of  character  which  seemed 
to  many  proof  of  uncharitableness  and  bitterness.  His  recent 
revelations  in  regard  to  our  national  politics  have  not  only  a 
kindly  but  a  national  significance.  By  his  '  new  departure ?  he 
sought  to  draw  with  cords  of  common  love  and  mutual  patriot 
ism,  men  of  all  parties,  and  men  of  no  party,  and  men  of  both 
parties,  into  a  common  and  kindly  unity. 

"  I  have  known  the  deceased,  Mr.  President,  in  many  rela 
tions.  When  I  first  knew  him  he  was  in  the  Legislature. 
Even  then  he  was  a  leader  of  the  people,  although  not  more 
than  twenty-one  years  of  age.  I  think  that  he  was,  perhaps, 
the  man  who  did  more  than  any  other  in  Ohio  to  inaugurate 
your  new  constitution.  Of  that,  Senator  Thurman  can  speak 
more  definitely.  Yes,  I  am  sure  I  am  right.  My  first  incident 
with  our  friend  was,  strange  to  say,  about  international  law. 
When  I  came  back  to  Ohio  from  college,  I  sent  him  a  little 
brochure  which  I  had  .written  upon  the  work  of  Hugo  Gro- 
tius.  Mr.  Yallandigham  read  it,  and  with  a  kind,  scholarly 
and  careful  sympathy  wrote  me  a  letter  of  praise  about  it,  long 
before  I  ever  knew  him,  or  expected  to  be  on  Foreign  Affairs 
Committees,  or  go  to  live  in  New  York  city  to  try  international 
cases  before  Claims  Commissioners.  I  met  him  afterward  in 
1853  at  the  Democratic  State  Convention  of  that  year.  It  was 
a  wild,  fierce  Convention. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham  was  President  of  that  Convention. 
It  was  there  I  first  saw  displayed  his  command  of  men,  his 
tact,  his  indomitable  courage  and  parliamentary  skill.  I  was 
impressed  greatly  with  his  courage,  earnestness,  and  the  incom 
parable  skill  which  he  there  displayed.  I  then  observed,  also, 
what  I  afterward  had  occasion  to  know  in  public  debate  at 
Washington,  that  no  man  was  more  thoroughly  versed  in  par 
liamentary  law,  or  its  practice,  than  he.  In  the  language  of  a 
quaint  old  English  author,  he  wielded  his  rapier  as  if  it  were 
a  'lissome  lath/  He  never  failed  to  make  his  mark  either 
upon  the  gallery  or  upon  the  members.  He  was  always  care 
fully  heard  when  he  spoke.  In  a  body  which  measures  men 
by  instinct — and  at  that  time  full  of  great  debaters — he  had 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIQHAM.  551 

no  peer.  Those  who  knew  him  best  as  a  painstaking  scholar, 
will  not  fail  to  recall  his  painstaking  labor  limce.  He  worked 
on  his  most  elaborate  speeches  under  the  lamp.  But  while  he 
was  seldom  satisfied  with  his  matured  efforts,  he  always  liked 
to  have  his  friends  like  his  impromptu  efforts.  Never  shall  I 
forget  the  fierce,  defiant,  bold,  able,  logical  and  legal  debate  on 
the  conscription  law.  Whether  he  was  right  or  wrong,  he 
believed  he  was  right.  He  hurled  his  terrible  philippics  with 
such  defiant  energy  of  utterance,  coupled  with  an  unfailing 
grace  of  manner,  that  even  the  five  thousand  opponents  in  the 
galleries  gave  him  their  plaudits. 

"  But,  sir,  I  come  here  not  to  analyse  his  character,  or  to 
speak  of  political  associations,  but  simply  as  a  friend  who  never 
differed  with  him  in  friendly  relation,  though  often  in  other 
regards.  But  I  have  often  received  hospitality  at  his  hands, 
in  your  city,  and  his  house  has  always  been  so  open — his  kind 
and  noble  bereaved  wife  [sensation]  has  always  been  so  ready 
to  welcome  her  husband's  friends — that  I  would  prefer  to 
speak  of  him  in  social  and  personal  matters. \  I  come  as  all 
you  feel  —  from  our  families  —  from  our  wives  and  sisters  and 
mothers  and  children  —  to  lay  something  before  the  widow  and 
the  orphan  boy  that  will  relieve  the  desolation  of  the  one  by 
our  sympathy,  and  direct  the  other  along  that  path  of  public 
and  private  probity  and  honor  his  father  trod.  In  fine,  I  come 
as  a  friend  to  lay  a  June  rose  on  his  bier  —  to  speak  of  my 
friend,  who  is,  alas !  gone,  but  whose  memory  remains.  It 
will  last  as  long  as  your  beautiful  Miami  Valley,  where  he  will 
sleep  his  last  sleep. 

"General  McCook  was  the  next  speaker.     He  said: — 

"  I  did  not  desire  to  utter  a  word  upon  this  occasion  which 
has  brought  us  together.  I  understood  it  would  not  be  expected 
from  me,  and  I  would  be  silent  now  if  I  had  not  been  named 
by  the  gentleman  upon  my  right,  and  but  for  the  fact  that  my 
silence  might  subject  me  to  misconstruction. 

"  I  have  known  Mr.  Yallandigham  longer,  perhaps,  than 
any  person  who  has  been  of  recent  years  associated  with  him. 
I  commenced  the  study  of  Latin  in  a  school  taught  by  his 
brother,  and  where  he  himself  was  a  pupil.  Our  relations  from 
that  time  on,  through  almost  the  entire  period  of  our  lives, 


552  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

have  been  friendly,  and  for  years  and  years  there  was  not  a 
line  of  difference  between  us.  I  have  not  known  him  in  his 
professional  career  of  late  years,  for  I  was  a  young  man  when 
he  left  the  part  of  the  State  where  I  was  born  and  in  which  I 
resided.  I  have  never  been  associated  with  him  in  the  trial 
of  a  cause,  and,  as  Judge  Thurman  has  remarked,  I  never 
heard  him  try  a  case.  My  experience  of  his  ability  was  con 
fined  to  a  single  professional  relation  that  I  sustained  to  him. 
I  was  retained  by  him  to  argue  his  right  to  a  seat  in  Congress 
against  the  distinguished  gentleman  whom  I  am  glad  to  see 
attending  this  meeting  to-day.  I  mean  Mr.  L.  D.  Campbell. 
That  case  involved  no  questions  that  required  great  professional 
ability.  The  questions  were  mere  statutory  questions  upon  the 
right  to  vote,  and,  in  some  cases,  upon  the  powers  of  the  court. 

"  But  I  know,  as  Judge  Thurman  says,  that  he  must  have 
been  a  great  lawyer,  for  he  had  the  qualities  which  at  the  bar 
always  command  success.  I  know  that  in  that  direction  he 
was  a  tireless  worker,  and  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  if 
he  had  a  fault  at  all,  it  was  this  wonderful  persistence  upon 
separate  facts  in  a  case,  not  necessary,  as  it  seemed  to  my  mind, 
to  the  determination  of  it.  He  was  unwearied  in  the  pursuit 
of  every  fact.  Details,  irksome  to  so  many  —  I  do  not  know 
that  we  ever  reach  generals  successfully  without  the  closest  at 
tention  to  details — commanded  his  careful  attention. 

"He  had  great  force  of  will,  he  had  great  energy  of 
character,  which  will  win  the  race  against  intellect  among  men 
at  the  bar,  and  anywhere  in  the  struggles  of  life.  He  was  a 
man  who,  as  Mr.  Thurman  has  well  said,  never  had  a  doubt. 
His  mind  seemed  never  poised  in  deliberation,  but  he  seemed 
to  speak  always  with  the  sincerity  of  an  assured  conviction  that 
nobody  could  shake  and  that  no  enemy  could  overcome. 

"We  mourn  the  circumstances  of  his  death.  We  sympa 
thise  with  the  family  that  he  has  left  behind  him.  We  sym 
pathise  with  his  only  son  and  with  his  distracted  wife,  and  we 
are  called  to  mingle  our  griefs  with  theirs,  and  would  be  glad 
der  still  if  our  sympathies  could  alleviate  the  terrible  violence 
of  the  blow  that  has  fallen  upon  them.  We  think  his  death 
unfortunate,  and  in  some  aspects  it  undoubtedly  is  so.  The 
old  Greek  would  have  said  that  he  died  a  happy  death,  that  he 
died  with  his  armor  on  his  back,  and  that  his  armor  sounded 
as  he  fell.  He  died  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession.  He  died 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  553 

as  the  brother  of  Webster  died,  who  fell  his  length  before  a 
jury  while  arguing  a  cause. 

"  I  say  that  I  had  not  intended  to  speak  a  word  on  this  occa 
sion,  and  if,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  my  silence  might  not 
have  been  subject  to  misconstruction,  I  would  have  preferred  to 
have  heard  from  others  who  knew  him  more  intimately  at  the 
bar  —  that  arena  to  which  he  had  for  the  last  few  years  more 
especially  devoted  himself.  But  I  could  not,  when  called  upon 
here,  fail  to  say  what  I  have  said. 

"The  Hon.  L.  D.  Campbell,  being  repeatedly  called  for, 
finally  arose  and  said  :— 

"  "Were  it  not  that  I  regard  this  as  a  most  extraordinary 
occasion  indeed,  I  should  not  have  attempted  this  morning  to 
leave  the  sick-room  to  which  for  some  time  past  I  have  been 
confined.  And  now  that  I  am  here,  Mr.  President,  it  seems 
to  me  that  silence  011  my  part  would  more  fitly  express  the 
emotions  of  my  heart.  A  few  nights  ago,  or  rather  in  the 
morning,  prostrated  and  suffering  from  sickness,  I  was  aroused 
by  special  messengers  sent  from  Lebanon  to  announce  to  me  that 
Mr.  Vallandigham  had  accidentally  shot  himself  while  engaged 
in  conducting  the  trial  of  McGehan.  Prior  to  this  my  mind 
had  not  infrequently  been  attracted  to  this  case,  because  of  the 
peculiar  circumstances  surrounding  it,  and  because  the  crime 
with  which  McGehan  was  charged  was  perpetrated  within  a 
few  hundred  feet  of  my  residence.  I  could  not  realise  .the  truth 
of  the  message  for  some  time.  Alas !  it  was  too  true,  and  the 
wound  too  fatal.  Mr.  President,  I  am  neither  physically  nor 
mentally  in  a  condition  to  do  this  subject  justice,  or  to  do  my 
self  justice.  I  did  not  know  Mr.  Vallandigham  so  well  as 
those  who  were  his  immediate  neighbors,  and  yet  I  had  oppor 
tunities  of  measuring  his  intellectual  strength  on  many  occa 
sions.  It  will  be  remembered  by  most  of  those  by  whom  I 
am  surrounded  now,  that  nearly  twenty  years  ago  he  and  I 
were  selected  as  representative  men  of  two  great  political  par 
ties.  I  refer  to  the  days  when  the  old  Democratic  and  the 
Whig  party  were  pitted  against  each  other,  and  they  were  led 
by  giant  intellects,  such  as  Webster  and  Everett  on  one  side, 
and  on  the  other  by  Buchanan,  Cass,  and  Douglass. 

"Mr.  Vallandigham  and  I  were  chosen  as  champions  to 


554  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

meet  before  the  people.  Then  for  the  first  time  I  made  his 
acquaintance,  and  from  the  very  hour  that  we  began  the  dis 
cussion  of  the 'political  questions  of  those  days,  I  formed  a  very 
high  opinion  of  his  political  strength.  He  was  a  man  endowed 
by  the  great  God  of 'nature  with  peculiar  attributes.  And  his 
natural  abilities  had  been  carefully  cultivated  until,  even  at 
that  early  period  of  his  life  —  twenty  years  ago  —  he  was  a 
man  of  gigantic  strength  in  public  debate.  It  is  true,  I  had 
ten  years  more  experience,  for  I  \vas  ten  years  his  senior ;  but 
inexperienced  as  he  was,  I  felt  the  power  that  he  wielded  be 
fore  the  people.  Never,  from  that  time,  have  I  failed  to  most 
highly  appreciate  his  abilities  as  a  public  man. 

"  One  of  his  great  traits  of  character  was  that  of  individu 
ality.  Most  of  us  are  deficient  in  that  respect.  We  are  all  too 
apt  to  lean  upon  others  for  assistance  and  support  in  the  hour 
of  necessity.  But  Mr.  Vallandigham  threw  himself  back  on 
his  own  individual  resources,  and  without  regard  to  the  char 
acter  of  the  opposition  he  had  to  encounter,  relied  upon  him 
self;  and  it  was  that  great  trait  of  his  character,  Mr.  President, 
his  individuality,  that  consciousness  of  having  himself  the 
strength  and  power  to  lead  the  people  and  carry  them  with 
him,  which,  in  my  judgment,  wras  the  secret  of  his  success. 

"  It  has  well  been  said  that  we  had  reason  to  believe  there 
was  a  new  field  of  usefulness  open  to  him  after  a  life  of  storm, 
as  it  were.  But  he  has  gone,  and  I  submit  to  the  decree  of 
fate.  '  After  life's  fitful  fever  he  sleeps  well/ 

"  Mr.  Campbell  resumed  his  seat,  overcome  with  emotion. 

"There  was  a  general  desire  to  hear  from  Judge  D.  A.  Haynes, 
the  late  partner  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  and  he  was  several  times 
called  for,  but  he  desired  in  a  trembling  voice  to  be  excused, 
without  assigning  any  reason. 

"  Mr.  Geo.  W.  Houk,  from  the  Committee  on  Resolutions, 
presented  his  report,  prefacing  it  as  follows : — 

"It  is  difficult,  Mr.  President,  upon  these  frequently-re 
curring  occasions,  in  giving  expression  to  our  emotions,  to  depart 
from  the  ordinary  language  of  condolence  or  eulogy. 

"  But  the  death  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  so  tragic,  so  affect 
ing,  calling  him  at  once  from  the  very  mid-day  of  an  active, 
vigorous,  promising  and  ambitious  life,  to  that  other  state  of 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  555 

existence  of  which  mankind  can  have  no  glimpse  but  by  the 
eye  of  faith,  touches  the  profoundest  depths  of  our  nature,  and 
suggests  the  deepest  reflections  upon  human  life  and  destiny. 

"  We  are  forced  to  reflect  upon  the  mysterious  character  of 
that  wonderful  change  which  by  a  physical  instrumentality,  so 
trifling  in  itself,  has  extinguished  to  the  living  world  an  as 
semblage  of  faculties,  personal,  intellectual  and  moral,  that 
seemed  organised  to  influence  the  destinies  of  a  great  people. 

"  That  form  so  familiar  to  us,  and  but  yesterday  instinct  with 
vigorous  life,  is  to-day  • —  dust.  All  his  high  hopes  and  aspi 
rations,  the  cloud-capped  towers  and  gorgeous  palaces  reared 
by  his  ambition,  are  now  but  the  stuff  that  dreams  are  made  of 
— '  his  little  life  is  rounded  with  a  sleep/ 

"  The  memory  of  his  manly  presence,  the  recollection  of  his 
courage,  his  eloquence,  his  integrity,  his  patriotism  and  many 
virtues : 

"  It  is  in  testimony  to  these  your  committee  make  tin's  re 
port  : 

"  The  Dayton  Bar,  deeply  sympathising  with  the  entire 
people  in  the  thrill  of  sorrow  occasioned  by  the  sudden  and 
tragic  death  of  the  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham,  and  moreover 
bound  to  him  in  the  brotherhood  of  our  professional  relation, 
as  well  as  by  the  ties  of  social  and  friendly  intercourse,  de 
sires  to  give  expression  to  its  profound  grief  by  these  proceed 
ings. 

"Resolved,  That  we  bear  willing  and  unanimous  testimony  to 
the  distinguished  ability  of  our  deceased  brother  as  a  lawyer, 
his  extensive  and  thorough  acquirements  as  a  scholar,  his  in 
dustry  as  a  student,  his  boldness  as  a  statesman,  and  his  courage 
as  a  man.  That  these  qualities,  united  with  an  unusual  degree 
of  mental  force  and  an  invincible  determination  of  character, 
have  given  Mr.  Vallandigham  a  national  reputation,  and 
stamped  him  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that  have 
appeared  in  the  political  history  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  we  wish  especially  upon  this  occasion  to  re 
cord  our  appreciation  of  Mr.  Yallandigham's  uniform  courtesy 
and  kindness  in  his  professional  relations,  especially  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  Bar ;  his  habits  of  close  study,  appli 
cation,  unremitting  and  enthusiastic  devotion  to  his  professional 
engagements,  which  the  sad  occasion  of  his  death  has  sanctified 
as  an  example  of  precious  value  to  the  American  Bar.  Although 


556  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

his  career  has  been  so  unexpectedly  terminated  by  an  early  death, 
his  life,  comparatively  brief,  but  brilliant,  active  and  eventful 
as  it  was,  is  replete  with  suggestions  of  value,  not  alone  to  the 
young  men  of  his  profession,  but  to  all  who  possess  the  honor 
able  ambition  to  bear  a  conspicuous  part  in  professional  or  po 
litical  life. 

"Resolved,  That  in  this  hour  of  double  and  crushing  bereave 
ment  to  a  fond  sister  and  devoted  wife,  called  from  the  grave 
of  a  revered  and  affectionate  brother  whose  distinguished 
talents  shed  lustre  upon  the  American  Bar,  to  attend  the  obse 
quies  of  one  still  more  dear  to  her  as  a  husband,  and  whose 
brilliant  fame  marked  him  at  this  time  as  the  most  conspicuous 
figure  in  American  politics,  the  Dayton  Bar,  acquainted  with 
the  virtues  and  excellence  of  Mrs.  Yallandigham's  character, 
tender  to  her  and  her  son  its  heartfelt  sympathies,  and  directs 
that  they  may  be  furnished  with  a  copy  of  these  proceedings. 

"Resolved,  That  as  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  character  of 
our  distinguished  brother,  and  our  grief  at  the  deplorable  oc 
currence  of  his  untimely  death,  the  Dayton  Bar,  inviting  such 
of  our  brethren  from  abroad  as  shall  be  with  us  on  this  occasion, 
do  attend  his  funeral  in  a  body,  and  that  we  will  designate  a 
day  hereafter  when  these  proceedings  shall,  on  motion,  be 
offered  for  record  upon  the  minutes  of  our  respective  Courts. 

"  The  following  was  offered  by  Hon.  George  W.  Houk : — 

"The  Dayton  Bar,  being  informed  that  the  Hon.  John 
W.  Garrett,  President  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad, 
upon  receiving  information  at  Baltimore  of  the  sudden  and 
lamentable  bereavement  of  Mrs.  Yallandigham  and  her  con 
sequent  prostration  and  distress  —  she  being  then  at  Cumber 
land,  Md.,  attending  the  funeral  of  her  deceased  brother,  the 
Hon.  John  V.  L.  McMahon  —  promptly  tendered  the  use  of 
his  private  coach,  and  made  arrangements  to  have  her  thus 
conveyed,  with  her  intimate  friends  alone,  from  the  city  of 
Cumberland  to  her  home  in  Dayton,  we  hereby  desire,  for  our 
selves  and  on  behalf  of  the  family  and  friends  of  Mrs.  Yallan 
digham,  to  give  public  expression  to  our  and  their  appreciation 
of  an  act  ofldndness  and  sympathy  so  delicate  and  considerate; 
and  we  request  a  copy  of  this  acknowledgment,  signed  by  the 
President  and  Secretary  of  this  meeting,  to  be  forwarded  to 
Mr.  Garrett. 

"  The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted." 


LIFE   OF    CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  557 


Similar  meetings  were  held  at  Cincinnati,  Lebanon,  Hamil 
ton,  Newport,  Ky.,  and  other  places. 

At  the  meeting  in  Cincinnati  the  following  remarks  were 
made  by  the  Hon.  Win.  S.  Groesbeck : — 

"Mr.  President:  I  did  not  come  here  with  the  expectation 
or  intention  of  talking.  On  occasions  of  afflictions  such  as  this, 
my  inclination  is  to  silence  rather  than  to  noise  or  display.  But 
I  have  come  here  to  meet  with  the  rest  of  you,  and  to  unite  in 
an  expression  of  sorrow  over  the  great  bereavement  —  family 
bereavement,  social  bereavement,  bereavement  of  the  State,  and, 
in  my  judgment,  bereavement  of  the  nation  —  that  has  fallen 
upon  us.  We  have  lost,  unexpectedly,  and  in  a  most  unsatis 
factory  manner,  a  distinguished  and  valuable  citizen,  one  whom 
I  have  known  intimately  for  many  years.  We  entered  Congress 
at  the  same  term,  and  at  its  conclusion  he  remained,  while  I 
returned  home. 

"  I  have  met  Mr.  Vallandigham  frequently  in  the  past  two 
months,  and  have  come  pretty  well  to  understand  all  his  views 
and  plans.  I  do  not  propose  to  make  party  allusions  here,  for 
this  blow  is  felt  by  all;  but  I  can  say  that  all  his  plans,  with 
out  exception,  as  even  his  opponents  and  critics  must  admit, 
were  those  of  a  brave,  honest,  able  and  patriotic  man.  I  know, 
if  his  life  so  full  of  strength  and  vigor  had  been  spared,  he 
would  have  demonstrated  to  the  country  the  integrity  of  his 
purpose  and  his  love  of  his  State  and  the  nation. 

"  But  I  am  not  here  to  talk.  I  cannot  do  justice  to  our 
friend.  I  am  without  preparation  for  such  a  work.  It  is  my 
pleasure,  as  it  is  the  duty  of  all,  in  such  an  afflictive  event  as 
this,  to  say  that  we  heartily  render  to  him  the  proper  tribute  for 
all  his  virtues. 

"  I  cannot  say  much  more.  I  do  not  know  what  to  say.  I 
knew  his  ambition  to  be  useful ;  to  serve  his  country.  He  had 
no  mean  ambition.  He  had  great  qualities  and  harbored  no 
thing  mean.  I  know  it.  I  know  it  as  well  as  others,  and 
better  than  some. 

"  I  can  hardly  be  reconciled  to  this  loss.  It  is  to  me  inex 
plicable,  unsatisfactory.  It  has  shocked  his  home  city,  this  city, 
the  State  and  the  nation.  I  am  glad  to  see  this  unanimous 
tribute  to  his  known  qualities.  It  never  entered  into  my  ima- 


558  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

gination  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  not  thoroughly  honest  in 
all  that  he  did  or  said.  Anything  mean  or  dishonest  he  would 
have  thrown  out  of  the  window  —  he  would  harbor  nothing  of 
the  kind.. 

"  Had  it  ever  happened  that  an  outside  enemy  —  I  will  not 
say  nation  —  had  ever  touched  the  hem  of  our  national  garment 
with  evil  intent,  we  would  have  seen  a  grand  exhibition  of  his 
patriotism.  Brother  fighting  brother  —  Damon  warring  with 
Pythias — was  a  different  thing.  But  I  stop.  I  lay  this  small 
oblation  upon  the  altar  erected  to  his  memory.  He  was  all  I 
have  said ;  he  was  even  more." 


THE  PRESS  ON  MR.  VALLANDIGHAM'S  DEATH. 

[From  the  Boston  Post.] 

With  eminent  abilities,  a  rarely  cultured  mind,  fluent  im 
agination,  courageous,  and  aspiring  to  the  highest  distinction, 
because  conscious  of  his  capacity  if  he  attained  them,  the  last 
utterance  almost  of  Vallandigham  was  for  the  glory  and  gran 
deur  of  the  Union. 

[From  the  Chicago  Tribune.'] 

The  sudden  and  shocking  death  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  has 
produced  an  unusual  sensation  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Since  the  death  of  Douglass  he  has  been  more  generally  ac 
knowledged  and  looked  up  to  as  the  leader  of  the  Democratic 
party,  than  any  other  man 

That  he  was  opposed  originally  to  the  acts  of  secession, 
there  can  be  no  doubt ;  and  the  man's  honesty  was  never  shown 
more  clearly  than  in  the  fact  that,  though  intensely  opposed  to 
the  war,  he  felt  bound,  upon  principle,  to  vote  all  the  men  and 
money  demanded  by  the  Government  to  prosecute  the  war,  so 
long  as  it  was  sustained  by  the  people. 

Mr.  Vallandigham  was  no  demagogue.  He  did  not  sail 
with  the  wind.  When  he  considered  he  was  right,  no  power 
could  move  him ;  and  neither  the  rage  of  opposition  nor  the 
appeals  of  friends  could  cause  him  to  abandon  his  position. 
He  was  a  man  of  ability  far  above  the  general  average,  and 
greatly  in  advance  of  any  man  now  prominent  in  the  Demo- 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  559 

cratic  party.  He  was  one  of  the  best  public  speakers  in  the 
country,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  if  he  had  lived  in  a 
different  time,  he  would  have  attained  high  official  position. 
In  private  life,  and  in  all  his  relations  with  his  fellow-men, 
Mr.  Vallandigham  was  a  gentleman  —  cultivated,  kind,  warm 
hearted,  and  generous.  His  death  leaves  a  very  large  gap  in 
the  party  to  which  he  belonged. 

[From  the  Cincinnati  Volksblatt.] 

A.  stormy  and  eventful  life  has  suddenly  been  cut  short. 
With  unexpected  quickness,  and  without  the  faintest  premoni 
tion,  the  inexorable  fates  have  snapped  asunder  the  thread  of 
life  of  a  man  in  his  most  vigorous  manhood  and  in  the  midst 
of  a  most  hopeful  career.  As  a  meteor  shoots  through  the  sky 
and  vanishes,  as  a  mighty  tree,  seized  by  a  roaring  whirlwind, 
is  uprooted  and  sinks  to  the  earth  with  a  crash,  so  rapidly  and 
so  mightily  did  C.  L.  Yallancligham  sink  into  the  cold  arms 
of  death. 

Judge  of  Mr.  Vallandigham's  political  past  as  you  will 
...  no  dark  stain  cleaves  to  his  private  character  or  his  social 
position.  Even  his  bitterest  enemies  could  not  help  recognis 
ing  his  strict  honesty,  incorruptible  integrity,  and  his  open  and 
straightforward  disposition ;  while  his  moral  courage,  his  emin 
ent  mental  qualities,  his  burning  eloquence,  and  his  courteous 
and  polished  demeanor,  placed  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  the 
great  men  of  the  present  day. 

[From  the  Cincinnati  Volksfreund.} 

Vallandigham,  in  character  as  well  as  talents,  stood  far 
above  the  ordinary  level  of  latter-day  politicians.  He  possessed 
what  most  would-be  statesmen,  who  employ  the  arts  of  pliancy 
and  oiliness,  want,  viz :  an  indomitable  courage,  and  manly 
pride  enough  not  to  disavow  himself  at  any  price  in  any  con 
dition  of  life.  He  possessed  magnanimity  enough  to  admit 
errors,  and  to  endeavor  to  correct  them ;  but  whenever  he  felt 
he  was  right,  he  would  not  yield  an  inch,  even  to  the  strongest 
antagonist.  It  is  the  cowards  that  cherish  rancor,  but  the 
courageous  forgive  and  forget,  as  Vallandigham  has  shown  by 
his  conciliatory  course. 


560  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

[From  the  1ST  Y.  Sun.] 

The  voice  of  religion  teaches  that  no  man  dies  too  soon  or 
too  late ;  but  much  as  we  believe  this,  the  demise  of  Clement 
L.  Vallandigham  is  none  the  less  sudden,  and  to  his  friends 
most  painful.  His  friends  were  many,  even  among  his  life 
long  political  opponents;  his  enemies  were  few,  even  in  his 
own  party.  A  conspicuous  figure  ever  since  his  first  appear 
ance  upon  the  stage  of  political  aifairs,  he  was  never  so  con 
spicuous  as  at  the  moment  of  his  death,  nor  ever  before  had 
such  power  of  being  useful  to  his  country. 

Next,  he  was  a  man  of  courage,  never  hesitating  to  utter 
his  opinions  or  shrinking  from  their  defence.  This  noble 
quality  was  impressively  exhibited  in  the  last  great  act  of  his 
life,  when  he  came  forward  to  direct  the  Democracy  in  the 
new  departure,  unsaying  his  own  old  ideas,  and  advocating  a 
policy  he  had  before  resisted. 

He  had  an  intense,  ardent  temperament ;  and  his  intellect, 
not  so  original  or  so  massive,  or  in  itself  so  powerful,  as  that 
of  some  others,  was  yet  capable  of  most  efficient  work  under 
the  prompting  of  his  vigorous,  sleepless  nature.  He  was  gen 
erous,  unpretending,  kindly,  true  to  his  friends ;  and  those  who 
knew  him  were  apt  to  like  him.  It  was  his  ambition  to  be 
come  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  and  that  desire  is  now 
over  with  him  forever.  But  his  mind  will  continue  on  tacit 
our  politics  long  after  his  grave  is  closed ;  and  if  the  Democracy 
continue,  as  they  doubtless  will,  to  follow  the  path  into  which 
he  has  led  them,  they  will  owe  what  success  they  may  gain 
first  of  all  to  the  foresight,  the  wisdom,  and  the  firmness  of 
Vallandigham. 

[From  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  June  18.] 

It  was  with  emotions  of  unutterable  sorrow  that  we  chronicled 
yesterday  the  fatal  accident  to  the  Hon.  C.  L.  Yallandigham, 
at  Lebanon,  Ohio.  So  sudden  and  overwhelming  was  it  that 
we  yet  can  hardly  realise  its  truth.  But  yesterday,  in  the 
pride  of  vigorous  health  and  the  prime  of  manhood,  a  fine 
specimen  of  the  physical  as  well  as  the  intellectual  man,  with 
every  appearance  about  him  of  longevity,  he  has  fallen,  and  a 
melancholy  tragedy  has  closed  a  character  and  a  career  that 
will  never  be  forgotten  in  this  country.  Since  the  death  of 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  561 

President  Lincoln,  in  1865,  no  demise  of  any  individual  has 
created  so  great  and  universal  a  sorrow.  The  deceased  was  so 
extraordinary  a  man,  and  had  had  such  a  stormy  political  life, 
that  his  death  at  any  time  would  have  been  a  marked  event ; 
but  occurring  under  the  circumstances  it  did,  it  has  invested  it 
with  the  deepest  historical  interest  and  sad  pathos.  He  may 
well  be  called  a  martyr  to  his  profession.  His  zeal  and  enthu 
siasm  for  his  client,  who  was  being  tried  for  his  life,  has  cost 
him  his  own.  No  lawyer  has  ever  erected  a  more  splendid 
monument  to  the  devotion  and  fidelity  which  should  charac 
terise  the  relations  of  counsel  than  he  has  by  this  sad  catas 
trophe.  No  sentinel  perishing  at  his  post,  no  physician  falling  a 
victim  to  his  efforts  to  save  his  patients,  ever  died  in  a  more 
heroic  and  v/orthy  manner.  The  bar  of  Ohio,  of  which  he 
was  a  distinguished  ornament,  owe  it  to  the  profession  to  take  a 
fitting  and  proper  notice  of  this  dreadful  tragedy.  Since  all 
that  is  mortal  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  has  gone,  since  party 
feelings  of  resentment  and  personal  jealousies  can  have  no 
further  cause  for  action,  we  may  contemplate  him  more  impar 
tially  and  judge  of  those  great  abilities  which  made  him  famous 
among  men. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  who  had  his 
faults,  none  ever  doubted  his  great  brain-power  —  his  superb 
intellectual  attainments.  In  this  he  used  no  economy.  Once 
enlisted  in  a  cause,  he  devoted  himself  entirely  to  its  accom 
plishment  with  remarkable  enthusiasm.  Had  he  not  been  en 
dowed  by  nature  with  more  than  is  usually  accorded  to  men, 
his  drafts  upon  his  mental  treasury  would  have  seriously  im 
paired  its  integrity. 

The  man  was  conscious  of  his  own  rectitude,  and  very  many 
parallels  may  be  found  where  unpopularity,  as  in  his  case, 
was  the  result  of  an  unappreciating  public,  for  he  could  not  be 
called  a  popular  man  in  the  sense  that  public  men  are  now 
viewed.  The  elements  of  his  intellectual  power  were  these: 
He  had  an  iron  will  and  an  unconquerable  resolution.  He 
had  an  energy  that  never  slacked,  and  always  challenged  ad 
miration.  His  industry  was  untiring  and  most  indomitable. 
He  had  patience  and  perseverance,  and  perfect  self-control. 
Originally  receiving  a  good  education,  it  had  been  assiduously 
improved  by  study  and  reflection.  He  had  one  of  the  best  and 
most  finely  selected  libraries  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  of  its 

36 


562  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT  L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

treasures  his  wonderful  memory  had  made  him  master.  We 
have  seldom  met  a  man  who  had  read  history  so  attentively 
and  thoroughly,  and  whose  recollection  of  it  could  be  so  im 
plicitly  trusted.  His  mind  was  logical  in  its  composition,  and 
his  perceptions  of  a  point  were  always  clear.  There  was  a 
vigorous  and  forcible  masculinity  about  his  intellect  that  struck 
every  one  who  was  brought  in  contact  with  him.  He  had  the 
ability  to  unite  the  qualifications  of  the  lawyer  with  the  states 
man  and  with  the  popular  orator,  and  he  excelled,  like  S.  S. 
Prentiss,  of  Mississippi,  in  all  of  them.  He  had  fine  imagina 
tive  powers,  and  his  speeches  are  thickly  strewn  with  rhetorical 
beauties  that  are  never  found  in  the  efforts  of  the  mere  political 
man. 

Ferociously  assailed  and  denounced  as  no  other  man  of 
his  day  and  generation  had  been,  there  are  few  men  who  will 
not,  when  they  look  at  the  matter  dispassionately,  fail  to  give 
him  credit  for  honesty  and  sincerity.  He  espoused  during  the 
war  the  weak  side.  He  combatted  popular  passion  and  pre 
judice,  and  risked  his  life,  his  property  and  character  in  behalf 
of  what  he  considered  right.  Had  he  been  a  venal  and  corrupt 
or  an  unprincipled  man,  he  would  have  gone  with  the  current, 
and  obtained  political  honor  and  distinction  instead  of  obloquy 
and  reproach.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  more  of  our  political 
men  have  not,  as  he  had,*  the  heroism  to  maintain  an  honest 
opinion,  even  at  the  expense  of  their  popularity. 

Socially  he  had  great  and  commanding  traits.  There  was 
a  magnetism  about  him  that  drew  toward  him  the  good- will  and 
affection  of  hosts  of  friends.  No  man  in  the  State,  even  when 
he  was  generally  under  the  ban  of  public  opinion,  had  a  greater 
number  of  personal  adherents  who  would  have  stood  by  him 
under  any  and  all  circumstances. 

In  the  course  of  his  active  and  varied  career  it  was  often 
the  fortune  of  the  writer  of  this  article  to  differ  with  him,  and 
sometimes  warmly  and  vehemently,  upon  party  and  individual 
policy.  But  we  never  failed  to  recognise  the  many  splendid 
qualities  that  he  possessed ;  and  in  the  most  trying  season  of 
his  life,  when  he  was  brought  to  this  city  by  General  Burnside's 
order,  in  1863,  and  the  question  was  whether  death  or  im 
prisonment  should  be  his  lot,  we  are  proud  to  know  that  he  re 
cognised  in  a  warm  manner  our  humble  efforts  in  his  behalf. 
It  is  now  to  us  a  great  satisfaction  that  just  before  the  late  State 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.     VALLANDIGHAM.  563 

Convention  we  saw  him  at  Columbus  and  had  a  most  cordial 
and  friendly  interview  with  him,  and  there  finally  disposed  of 
any  alienation  or  misunderstanding,  if  upon  either  side  it  had 
previously  existed. 

Little  did  we  think  as  we  bade  him  adieu  that  we  were 
never  to  see  him  again  in  this  world,  that  our  eyes  should 
never  have  another  glance  at  his  manly  form.  In  one  respect 
he  was  fortunate.  Recent  events  and  the  modifying  hand  of 
time  have  soothed  and  obliterated  much  of  the  animosity  which 
existed  against  him,  and  there  is  a  kinder  disposition  to  do 
justice  than  ever  before,  and  he  will  be  followed  to  his  grave  by 
the  regrets  of  those  who  were  lately  his  antagonists. 

To  the  Democratic  party  of  Ohio,  to  whom  he  had  given 
a  quarter  of  a  century  of  vigorous  and  distinguished  service, 
his  loss  is  almost  irreparable,  especially  now  when  we  are  in 
a  campaign  the  issues  of  which  he  had  so  strongly  marked  put 
and  traced,  and  which  he  was  expected  to  uphold  and  defend 
with  his  usual  ability.  We  feel  assured  that  those  who  were 
the  most  opposed  to  the  'new  departure'  will  deeply  lament 
this  untoward  accident,  and  that  their  hearts  will  well  out  in 
sympathy  with  the  sad  fate  of  our  distinguished  leader.  A 
thousand  indescribable  recollections  of  the  past  will  rise  in  the 
hearts  of  his  Democratic  party  friends  who  have  stood  by  him 
through  good  and  evil  report,  and  melancholy  will  be  the  con 
victions  that  no  longer  shall  they  listen  to  his  clarion  voice  nor 
hear  his  bugle-blast  of  defiance  to  the  enemy.  From  the  river 
to  the  lakes,  and  from  Pennsylvania  to  Indiana,  there  will  be 
an  outburst  of  grief  from  thousands  of  stout  hearts,  which 
during  the  excited  and  heated  contests  of  the  last  few  years  had 
been  drawn  toward  him  by  the  strong  tie  of  mutual  feeling, 
and  by  their  admiration  of  his  talents  and  heroic  bravery. 

Mr.  Yallandigham  was  an  ambitious  man,  but  his  ambition 
was  of  an  elevated  and  noble  kind.  The  stroke  of  fate  has 
fallen  upon  him  when  apparently  the  sunlight  of  prosperity 
was  about  to  descend  upon  his  head,  and  when  his  chances  were 
fair  of  gaining  a  life-long  coveted  distinction. 

During  the  late  canvass  in  Ohio  the  following  eulogy  was 
pronounced  by  the  Hon.  George  H.  Pendleton : — 

"Who  can  commence  the  discussion  of  political  questions 


564  LIFE    OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

without  being  carried  involuntarily  to  that  scene  of  anguish 
and  death  which  so  lately  clothed  our  party,  our  State,  and  our 
country  in  mourning? 

1  The  silver  cord  is  loosened ;  the  golden  bowl  broken.' 

The  voice  that  spoke  so  eloquently  and  so  well  is  stilled. 
The  intellect  which  thought  so  truly  exerts  its  powers  on  other 
subjects,  in  other  spheres.  The  strong,  brave  heart  beats  not 
to  the  conflicts  of  time.  When  I  think  of  this  I  feel  that  we 
might  imitate  the  captives  of  Judea,  who  by  the  waters  of 
Babylon  hung  their  harps  on  the  willows,  and  sat  down  and 
wept  when  they  remembered  Zion.  I  did  not  know  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  so  long  perhaps  as  many  of  you,  but  I  knew  him 
very  well.  During  his  whole  service  in  Congress  I  was  his 
colleague.  During  the  eventful  sessions  of  1861—62—63  I  was 
his  daily  associate  and  intimate  friend.  During  the  day  of  his 
arrest,  and  trial  and  imprisonment,  I  saw  him  at  every  hour 
that  it  was  possible,  and  did  what  I  could  to  mitigate  the  pain 
which  an  infamous  tyranny  inflicted.  In  all  those  times  of 
anxiety  and  care  and  suffering  I  never  heard  from  his  lips  one 
word  inconsistent  with  the  loftiest  patriotism,  the  most  unfalter 
ing  hope,  and  the  most  unblenching  courage.  You  know  he 
was  able,  and  eloquent,  and  self-reliant,  and  studious ;  that  he 
had  great  strength  of  will  and  force  of  character,  and  that 
magnetism  which  attracted  and  attached  men  closely  to  him. 
Pie  was  also  cool  and  deliberate  and  patient.  Beyond  most 
men  whom  I  have  known  he  was  sensitive  to  attacks  upon  the 
purity  of  his  motives  and  character.  I  have  seen  him  wounded 
to  the  quick  —  his  heart  lacerated  until  it  seemed  too  sore  to 
touch,  and  bleeding  his  life  away  —  by  the  vindictive,  savage 
abuse  so  unsparingly  heaped  upon  him  during  the  war.  Never 
were  attacks  more  unjust  and  infamous.  No  man  loved  his 
country  more  intensely,  and  sought  for  the  wisest  policy  more 
conscientiously,  or  would  have  sacrificed  more  readily  or  more 
abundantly  health  and  strength  and  fortune,  and  even  preju 
dices  and  preconceived  opinions,  to  secure  its  welfare.  He 
would  have  been  a  war  man  if  he  could  have  believed  that 
war  would  restore  the  Union.  He  would  have  been  a  devoted 
supporter  of  the  Republican  party  if  he  could  have  believed 
its  policy  would  have  maintained  the  guarantees  of  liberty 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  565 

afforded  by  our  Constitution.  As  he  could  not  believe  this, 
he  would  not  swerve  from  the  conviction  of  the  ( faith  that  was 
in  him/  even  though  his  heart  should  bleed  and  break  at  the 
blind  misconstruction  of  his  character  and  the  wilful  perver 
sion  of  his  words  and  aspersion  of  his  motives.  I  thank  God 
he  has  lived  long  enough  to  see  that  Time,  the  avenger  in 
whom  he  had  such  unwavering  faith,  has  commenced  his  work, 
and  that  many  who  had  maligned  him  most  were  beginning  to 
see  their  error  and  to  do  him  justice.  I  thank  God  that  at 
the  last  the  sun  penetrated  the!  darkness  of  the  night,  and  that 
his  eye  saw,  even  though  only  for  a  moment,  the  mist  of  the 
morning  dissolving  before  its  radiant  beams.  And  if  it  be 
given  to  men  who  have  gone  hence  to  care  for  or  to  know  the 
estimation  in  which  they  are  held  on  earth,  I  know  his  spirit 
will  be  gladdened  by  the  fact  that  all  his  countrymen,  without 
dissent,  will  believe  that  he  was  as  pure  as  he  was  able,  as 
honest  as  he  was  brave,  and  as  faithful  as  he  was  persecuted." 

The  following  recollections  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  are  from 
the  pen  of  S.  W.  Gilson,  Esq.,  of  Canfield,  Ohio.  Mr.  Gilson 
was  at  college  with  Mr.  Vallandigham,  afterwards  studied  law 
in  his  office,  and  during  his  life  was  a  warm  political  and  per 
sonal  friend.  After  speaking  of  Mr.  Vallandigham's  course 
at  college,  and  giving  substantially  the  same  account  as  has 
already  been  given  by  Dr.  F.  T.  Brown  and  the  Hon.  S. 
Clemens,  Mr.  Gilson  says  : — 

"  After  he  left  college  I  knew  nothing  more  of  him  for 
some  years  until  after  I  graduated.  Then  I  came  to  Ohio,  to 
Columbiana  County,  and  commenced  teaching  a  select  clas 
sical  school,  and  at  the  same  time  I  commenced  the  study 
of  law  with  Mr.  Vallandigham,  then  in  practice  in  New 
Lisbon,  Ohio,  and  in  his  office  I  prosecuted  my  study  until 
I  was  admitted  in  the  spring  of  1846.  During  the  time  I  read 
with  him,  whilst  he  gave  proper  attention  to  his  practice  and 
the  law  connected  with  his  cases,  and  prosecuted  his  profession 
with  all  the  ardor  which  constituted  the  soul  of  his  being,  still 
he  seemed  inclined  to  study  politics  with  full  as  much  zeal 


566  LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

and  so  continued  until  within  three  or  four  years  of  the  un 
fortunate  termination  of  his  brief  but  imperishable  career,  when 
he  devoted  his  whole  energy  to  his  profession  and  practice,  and 
had  become  one  of  the  first  lawyers  of  Ohio,  always  preserving 
his  integrity  and  high  character  as  a  membe^  of  the  bar.  and 
commanding  the  respect  of  all. 

"  Soon  after  I  commenced  study  with  him  he  was  "elected 
to  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  and  although  young,  whilst  in  that 
body  he  occupied  a  standing  and  position  amongst  the  first 
members  therein  —  always  in  his  place,  giving  constant  atten 
tion  to  the  progress  of  legislation,  and  commanding  the  respect 
of  his  fellow-members,  irrespective  of  party,  by  his  well- 
expressed  and  consistent  views  of  all  the  subjects  of  discussion 
and  legislation. 

"As  a  statesman  he  was  well  entitled  to  be  ranked  amongst 
the  first  in  our  nation.  Learned  as  he  was  in  all  the  history 
of  the  past;  familiar  with  the  rise,  progress,  decline,  and  down 
fall  of  the  nations  that  had  passed  away  in  the  world's  his 
tory,  tracing  with  care,  as  he  did,  through  the  pages  of  history 
the  causes  that  contributed  to  their  greatness,  grandeur,  and 
glory,  and  the  elements  which  in  revolving  years  wrought  their 
ruin  :  he  could  well  declare  the  principles  essential  to  the  per 
petuity  of  our  free  institutions.  When  a  member  of  Congress, 
he  well  sustained  himself  as  a  debater  and  parliamentarian, 
and  the  speeches  by  him  delivered  during  that  time  compare 
well  with  those  of  the  best  statesmen  of  England  or  America, 
and  will  live  with  those  of  Pitt  and  Burke  and  Fox  of  the  old 
world,  and  "Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun  of  the  new. 

"  Lastly,  as  a  popular  speaker  in  campaigns  he  had  no  su 
perior  in  Ohio.  I  was  with  him  much  through  the  south  and 
west  of  Ohio  during  the  campaign  when  Thurman  was  a  can 
didate  for  Governor,  and  I  have  never  seen  any  speaker  who 
could  so  long  and  so  well  hold  an  audience  through  an  address. 
His  manner  of  speaking  on  the  '  stump '  as  well  as  elsewhere, 
Wis  precise,  calm,  and  dignified,  speaking  for  hours  without 
making  a  blunder,  without  violating  a  rule  in  grammar  or 
rhetoric  or  logic.  At  times  his  address  was  characterised  with 
extreme  severity,  but  always  chaste,  classical,  and  dignified. 
Had  he  lived  in  this  campaign,  he  would  surely  have  been  the 
most  important  character  therein,  and  would  have  contributed 
much  by  hi-s  efforts  to,  have  enabled  the  Democracy  to  carry 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  567 

Ohio  for  constitutional  liberty,  law,  and  order,  and  against 
Radicalism,  fraud,  and  corruption.  But  he  is  gone,  just  when 
his  work  seemed  to  be  half  done.  Would  that  he  had  lived 
for  another  score  of  years ;  for  surely  I  would  have  seen  him 
in  that  time  occupy  the  highest  position  in  the  gift  of  the 
American  people.  Bravely  had  he  fought  through  long  years 
and  against  organised  opposition;  and  though  the  dark  night 
of  the  war  had  been  long  and  the  storms  has  been  strong,  yet 
he  had  never  furled  the  rainbow  flag  of  Democratic  principles, 
of  constitutional  liberty.  And  surely  he  who  had  'launched 
his  barque  for  the  skies '  would  never  have  become  the  '  drift 
wood  of  the  world/  but  would  have  advanced  from  one  degree 
of  honor  to  another,  until  at  last  he  would  have  stood  on  the 
mountain  height  where  '  Fame's  proud  temple  shines  afar.' 
Proud,  because  his  nation  was  great  and  glorious :  '  but  now, 
alas !  of  all  things  the  reverse :  earth  has  become  his  winding- 
sheet,  and  darkness  palls  the  hearse.' 

We  close  with  the  following  tribute  from  the  pen  of  the 

**  % 

Hon.  James  W.  Wall,  formerly  United  States  Senator ".  from 

the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and  a  warm  political  and  personal 
friend : — 

"  CLEMENT  L.  YALLANDIGHAM. 

"The  announcement  of  the  sudden  death  of  this  distin 
guished  citizen  of  Ohio  fell  on  Saturday  upon  startled  commu 
nities  everywhere  within  reach  of  telegraphic  communication, 
as  if  they  had  heard  a  loud  thunder-peal  in  a  cloudless  sky. 
In  New  York,  as  the  bulletins  announced  '  Vallandigham 
Dead/  crowds  gathered  about  them,  and  the  words  of  deep 
sorrow  that  could  be  heard  on  all  sides,  testified  that  a  great 
and  good  man  had  passed  away  from  earth. 

"  Never  did  the  force  of  the  text,  '  What  is  your  life  :  it  is 
even  a  vapor  that  appeareth  for  a  little  and  then  vanisheth 
away/  strike  us  more  solemnly  than  when  we  read  the  an 
nouncement  of  our  friend's  sudden  death.  It  was  only  a  few 
weeks  ago  that  we  were  with  him  in  New  York,  discussing  to 
gether  the  points  of  the  platform  which  has  since  caused  so 
much  excitement  under  the  misnomer  of '  The  New  Departure/ 
He  was  in  full  robust  strength,  his  eyes  flashing  with  intellec- 


568  LIFE    OF   CLEMENT  L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

tual  fire,  and  his  cheek  glowed  with  the  ruddiest  hues  of  health. 
As  we  parted  from  him  we  said :  '  Be  careful  you  do  not  fail, 
for  failure  now  would  be  fatal ; '  and  the  answer  came  back  in 
those  full  and  old  familiar  tones :  '  I  know  no  such  word  as 
fail,  for  it  finds  no  place  in  my  dictionary.  I  shall  fight  the 
coming  contest  in  Ohio  with  an  earnestness  and  determination 
such  as  I  have  never  exhibited  before,  and  I  rely  upon  your 
promise  "  to  come  over  and  help  us." '  But,  alas  for  the  vanity 
of  all  human  expectations  and  human  projects!  —  the  strong 
man,  with  twenty-five  years  of  vigorous  life  in  him,  whose  con 
stitution  never  had  been  impaired  by  the  excesses  that  overthrow 
so  many,  and  who  uttered  these  brave  words,  to-day  lies  clothed 
in  the  garments  of  the  tomb,  a  shrouded  corpse  in  the  midst 
of  that  once  happy  home  in  Dayton  where  he  was  so  long  the 
light  and  glory. 

"  In  the  intercourse  of  life  we  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
find  men  admirable  for  their  social  qualities,  for  a  clear  and 
vigorous  intellect,  and  for  rare  integrity  and  moral  worth  com 
bined.  "Very  pleasant  is '  the  friendship  and  society  of  such 
men,  and  their  loss  by  death  is  a  sad  calamity.  They  are  be 
loved,  respected,  admired,  and  illustrious,  and  never  in  vain 
do  they  live,  or  fail  when  dead  to  leave  behind  them  an  in 
fluence  for  good.  Some  men  have  great  influence,  and  are 
superior  because  they  have  the  natural  endowments  of  a  strong 
will  and  weighty  force  of  character.  Some  are  admired  for 
their  splendid  genius,  intellect,  and  high  culture;  some  for 
social  and  others  for  moral  gifts  and  graces.  But  the  best  con 
ceivable  type  of  character  will  combine  the  strength  of  a  power- 
fill  understanding  and  a  firm,  reliant  will,  with  the  beauty  of 
a  true  and  loving  nature,  carrying  with  it,  as  such  nature  al 
ways  does,  kindness,  benevolence,  sympathy,  and  warm  affec 
tions.  All  these  met  and  were  harmoniously  blended  in  the 
character  of  Mr.  Yallandigham.  In  all  his  life-work,  never 
did  human  being  more  thoroughly  carry  out  the  counsel  of 
David  to  Solomon :  '  Show  thyself  a  man/  It  was  illustrated 
in  both  his  private  and  his  public  walk.  Conscious  ever  of 
the  rectitude  of  his  intentions,  he  possessed  all  the  courage  that 
generally  accompanies  the  sense  of  right,  and  nothing  ever 
deterred  him  from  the  public  expression  of  his  honest  opinions, 
leaving  the  consequences  to  The  Great  Disposer  of  events.  .  .  . 

"  Mr.  Yallandigham  was  early  called  into  public  life,  and 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  569 

he  at  once  took  high  rank  in  the  Legislature  of  his  native 
State  as  a  vigorous  and  polished  debater.  Upon  entering  the 
halls  of  Congress  he  leaped  at  one  bound  to  the  position  of  a 
leader.  His  first  speech  was  listened  to  with  rapt  attention 
and  undisguised  admiration.  During  its  delivery  the  House 
was  hushed  to  an  unwonted  stillness,  and  the  whisper  went 
round  the  halls  and  galleries,  'Who  is  that  graceful  and 
earnest  speaker  ? '  After  that  memorable  day  the  announce 
ment  anywhere  in  the  Capitol,  '  Vallandigham  has  the  floor/ 
was  sure  to  empty  the  Senate  chamber,  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  all  the  hiding-places  and  recesses  of  the  building.  During 
the  war,  side  by  side  with  Cox,  Voorhees,  Pendleton,  and  May, 
he  vainly  attempted  to  protect  the  constitutional  outposts  from 
being  driven  in,  and  save  the  country  from  drifting  into  those 
swelling  and  treacherous  rapids  that  are  ever  hurrying  on  to 
the  great  maelstrom  of  centralisation. 

"  Throughout  the  whole  of  that  fierce  struggle  he  never 
uttered  a  word  or  evolved  a  proposition  that  did  not  spring 
from  a  spirit  of  the  most  self-sacrificing  devoted  patriotism. 
We  challenge  a  denial  of  this  assertion,  and  dare  any  wretched 
libeller'of  the  dead  statesman  to  put  his  finger  upon  a  single 
sentiment  of  his  that  Washington,  Madison,  and  Jay  might  not 
have  uttered.  With  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Constitution, 
and  a  soul  devoted  to  its  preservation,  he  sacrificed  all  hopes 
of  political  advancement  because  he  would  not  and  could  not 
sanction  doctrines  that  have  since  been  stamped  as  infamous 
by  the  supreme  tribunal  of  the  nation.  He  had  an  undying 
attachment  to  the  Union  of  these  States  as  equal  and  indepen 
dent  sovereignties,  was  strong  in  that  patriotism  which  made 
him  love  his  country  even  before  himself,  and  well  might  have 
exclaimed  with  the  greatest  and  purest  of  the  Romans : — 

1 1  am  the  son.  of  Marcus  Cato, 
A  foe  to  tyrants,  and  my  country's  friend.' 

"  His  loss  to-day  to  the  country  is  immense,  for  it  has  torn 
from  her,  while  in  the  full  maturity  and  strength  of  his  great 
powers,  another  of  that  little  band  of  unselfish,  unsullied  hearts 
that  worshipped  her  for  herself  alone,  and  not  for  the  honors 
or  emoluments  she  had  to  bestow.  His  loss  to  Ohio  and  the 
Democracy  of  that  gallant  State  is  irreparable.  There  is  no  one 


570  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT    L.    VALLANDIGHAM. 

left  that  can  fill  the  place  made  void  by  his  lamented  and  aw 
fully  sudden  death.  As  the  present  Governor  said  to  a  friend 
of  the  writer  of  this,  '  Vallandigham  was  a  most  powerful  man 
to  contend  against  in  a  popular  canvass.  His  resources  are 
immense  and  varied,  while  he  exercises  a  most  magnetic  in 
fluence  over  the  crowds  that  flock  to  hear  him,  and  who  are 
carried  away  by  his  eloquence.  In  invective  and  withering 
sarcasm  he  has  not  his  superior  in  the  State,  and  I  doubt  very 
much  whether  he  has  out  of  it/  This  is  a  tribute  from  a  gen 
erous  political  foe,  and  from  one  who  found  in  him  '  a  foeman 
worthy  of  his  steel/ 

"  We  have  seen  him  at  large  political  gatherings,  when  by 
the  magic  of  his  potent  eloquence  he  made  '  men  to  be  of  one 
mind/  and  swayed  them  as  if  they  were  influenced  by  one 
supreme  will.  He  was  always  a  man  of  such  dignity  and  pro 
priety  of  manners  before  an  audience  as  to  at  once  impress  it 
with  the  importance  of  his  subject  and  the  occasion.  He  never 
told  stories  for  the  purpose  of  causing  laughter  —  he  was  too 
full  of  mental  resources  for  that.  He  might  illustrate  a  point 
of  his  speech  by  an  occasional  anecdote,  but  this  was  very  rare ; 
and  he  ever  adhered  strictly  to  the  truth  when  dealing  with  the 
record  and  doctrines  of  the  opposite  party.  As  he  always  said, 
'  It  is  grossly  insulting  to  an  audience  to  lie  to  them  about  even 
their  enemies.  Truth  always  is  the  measure  of  wrath  that 
should  be  dealt  out  to  the  opposition.7  He  ever  entrenched 
himself  behind  truth,  and  from  that  battery  shot  forth  the 
mighty  missiles  of  his  brain.  The  tones  of  his  musical  voice 
were  full,  round  and  distinct ;  and  large  as  was  the  crowd,  his 
every  word  could  be  heard  with  facility  at  its  outermost  verge. 
His  eye  was  expressive  and  most  penetrating  in  its  power  when 
under  excitement ;  and  his  c  glance  was  stern  and  high '  when 
he  was  depicting  in  his  own  graphic  way  the  wrongs  and  out 
rages  committed  by  the  infamous  Lincoln  administration  upon 
the  freedom  of  the  citizen  and  the  rights  of  free  speech  and  a 
free  press.  The  minions  of  arbitrary  power  quailed  before  the 
lightning  of  his  glance,  as  well  they  might.  They  could  not 
stand  up  before  the  potency  of  his  rebuke ;  and  as  all  tyrants 
and  their  minions  have  done  in  every  age,  they  tried  to  break 
his  spirit  by  imprisonment  and  banishment,  but  in  vain. 

"...  With  all  the  wrong  and  outrage  inflicted  upon  the 
subject  of  our  sketch,  thank  God  he  lived  long  enough  to  find 


LIFE   OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.  571 

that  time  had  brought  along  some  of  its  revenges ;  he  lived 
long  enough  to  hear  the  loftiest  judges  of  the  land,  those  ap 
pointed  by  Lincoln  himself,  by  a  solemn  decision  pronounce  his 
persecutors  'usurpers  of  power  and  invaders  of  the  public 
liberty.'  There  never  lived  since  the  days  of  Sydney  a  more 
earnest,  eloquent  and  devoted  champion  of  civil  liberty,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  more  humble  and  obedient  servant  to  the 
law,  when  constitutionally  administered,  than  Clement  L.  Val- 
landigham. 

"  The  crowd  of  citizens  of  all  parties  who  gathered  in  Dayton 
to  pay  the  last  sad  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  Ohio's 
great  statesman,  was  a  most  eloquent  commentary  upon  the 
madness  and  injustice  which  made  life's  experience  so  bitter 
to  the  living  patriot.  The  stern  hand  of  death  appears  to  have 
torn  asunder  the  veil  which  so  long  concealed  the  grand  pro 
portions  of  the  man  from  so  many  eyes ;  and  he  now  stands  re 
vealed,  and  will  go  down  to  posterity,  as  the  pure,  unselfish  and 
incorruptible  patriot  that  he  really  was. 

"  His  life-work  is  done,  and  these  earthly  acclamations  and 
tributes  cannot  reach  him  on  that  far-off  shore  whither  he  has 
gone.  Amid  the  blessed  realities  of  eternity  he  cares  not  for 
them ;  but  to  us  who  remain,  who  loved  him  living  and  mourn 
him  dead,  these  tributes  are  exceedingly  precious.  They  are 
precious  as  the  costly  myrrh  and  spikenard  that  were  cast  into 
the  Roman  funeral-pyre.  They  reveal  to  us  how  unjust  were 
the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  hour  when  he  was  hounded 
almost  to  his  death,  and  bear  most  eloquent  witness  to  the  great 
and  intrinsic  worth  of  the  man  thus  cruelly  persecuted.  Death 
was  the  'Ithuriel  spear'  that  touched  him  and  revealed  him  to 
the  world  in  his  true  character  as  a  man  and  a  patriot.  It  was 
not,  it  is  true,  the  reward  looked  for,  and  that  was  to  compen 
sate 

*  The  patient  search  and  vigil  long 
Of  him  who  treasures  up  a  wrong,' 

to  use  the  words  he  was  so  fond  of  quoting  from  his  favorite 
Mazeppa ;  but  it  was  something  infinitely  purer  and  holier : 
the  tribute,  not  wrung  from  the  result  of  earthly  passion  and 
the  fruition  of  revenge,  but  the  result  of  the  illumination  of 
the  God-like  truth  that  filled  the  breasts  of  that  mourning 
multitude  —  suddenly  and  potent,  and  we  speak  it  with  all  re- 


572  LIFE   OF    CLEMENT   L.   VALLANDIGHAM. 

verence,  as  that '  light  like  unto  noon-day  \  which  flashed  around 
the  stricken  Saul  as  he  fell  prostrate,  conscious  of  all  the  wrongs 
and  outrages  he  had  been  guilty  of  as  a  persecutor  of  the  saints. 

"  His  friend  Groesbeck  struck  the  key-note  of  Yallandig- 
ham's  patriotism  when  he  said  at  the  bar  meeting : 

"  i  I  dare  not  think  of  this  man  as  anything  but  patriotic. 
No  man  could  have  questioned  his  patriotism,  his  love  for  the 
whole  country.  Had  a  foreign  foe  dared  to  'touch  merely  the 
outside  hem  of  the  garment  of  the  country,  you  would  have 
had  from  him  such  an  exhibition  of  patriotism  as  would  have 
kindled  you  with  new  fire.  But  this  war  of  States,  this  Damon 
and  Pythias  quarrel,  he  deprecated  and  could  not  understand, 
for  he  loved  both  North  and  South  alike  with  his  whole  heart.7 

"  Oh,  how  true  all  this  is !  His  patriotism  had  no  sec 
tionalism  about  it.  It  was  not  hemmed  in  by  State  lines,  but 
beat  responsive  to  a  universal  love.  He  strongly  felt  as 
regards  both  North  and  South,  'We  all  are  brethren.7  His 
deep  historic  research,  more  marked  in  him  than  in  any  other 
man  we  ever  knew,  had  revealed  to  him  the  accumulated  and 
accursed  horrors  of  civil  strife.  How  often  have  we  conversed 
with  him  over  those  passages  of  Lucaii  in  his  Pharsalia  bearing 
upon  the  fiercest  civil  struggle  of  ancient  Rome.  In  that  poem 
the  atrocities  of  the  Marian  civil  war  are  brought  prominently 
forward  in  the  narrative.  The  beautiful,  cold,  classic  mytho 
logy  has  there  no  place.  The  supreme  powers  that  hover  over 
the  scene  of  slaughter  are  the  local  deified  men  and  heroes,  and 
the  evil  spirits  of  the  country.  The  ghost  of  Sylla  rises  in  the 
field  of  Mars,  and  the  dead  Marius  is  seen  to  break  open  his 
sepulchre  on  the  banks  of  the  Arno.  A  corpse  is  taken  from 
the  field  of  death,  the  spirit  forced  to  re-enter  it  and  tell  what 
it  has  seen.  The  tortured  ghost  beholds  Cincinnatus,  the 
Decii  and  the  Curii  patriots  of  Rome  weeping  and  wailing, 
while  Marius  and  Cataline  are  seen  bursting  their  chains  and 
shouting  applause.  He  often  commented  on  this  vision  of  the 
poet,  and  declared  that  it  rose  before  him  in  all  its  ghastly 
horror  every  time  he  read  an  account  of  the  meeting  of  North 
and  South  on  bloody  battle-fields.  He  struggled  with  all  the 
ardor  and  energy  of  his  nature  to  ward  off  the  fearful  collision; 
and  when  it  came,  he  was  continually  for  extending  the  olive- 
branch  whenever  an  opportunity  offered.  Let  no  wretched 
speculator  who  was  turning  the  blood  and  bones  of  his  slaugh- 


LIFE    OF   CLEMENT   L.    VALLANDIGHAM.       .     573 

tered  countrymen  to  profit,  dare  to  question  the  sincerity  of 
his  motives. 

"  The  blessings  and  the  inheritance  promised  to  the  peace 
makers  in  Holy  Writ  are  his  to-day,  and  he  can  gaze  with 
serene  pity  from  the  blessed  abodes  where  he  rests,  upon  the 
pharisaical  and  narrow  souls  of  such  malignants.  When  he 
felt  that  the  hem  of  his  country's  garment  had  been  trodden 
upon  by  a  foreign  foe,  as  in  the  Trent  affair,  he  was  the  first 
to  resent  it;  but  the  cowardly  souls  of  those  who  were  coining 
fortunes  out  of  their  country's  woes,  shrank  back  affrighted  from 
the  proposition,  preferring  to  humiliate  themselves  and  country 
before  a  foreign  foe  sooner  than  hazard  the  close  of  a  civil 
strife  where  that  country's  loss  was  their  gain.  Death  at  last 
canonised  the  man.  He  fell  with  his  harness  on,  and  as  General 
McCook  remarked,  '  it  clanged  when  he  fell/  He  is  now  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  praise  of  his  friends  or  the  censure 
of  his  foes;  but  as  years  roll  on,  his  public  fame  shall  brighten 
more  and  more,  while  the  memory  of  his  vile  detractors  and 
persecutors  will  have  perished  from  the  earth. 

"Thus  much  and  more  we  could  have  written  of  the  public 
man.  When  as  a  friend  we  come  to  speak  of  his  heart,  we 
falter  and  break  down.  We  cannot  praise  him  without  tears. 
His  friendship  was  not  lightly  given,  but  when  once  given  it 
could  not  be  too  dearly  prized.  A  brave  heart  is  always  kind.1 
When  he  had  quietly  and  carefully  tried  any  one,  studied  his 
character  and  found  him  not  wanting,  but  steadfast  and  true, 
he  never  wavered  in  his  friendship.  A  perfect  gentleman  in 
the  instinctive  caution  about  interfering  in  anything  whatever 
that  did  not  concern  him ;  yet  on  all  suitable  occasions,  especi 
ally  in  the  hour  of  trial,  he  showed  a  steadiness  of  friendship 
and  a  firmness  of  confidence  that  shone  over  the  darkness  and 
storms  of  life  like  the  rays  of  the  beacon  to  the  worn-out 
mariner.  For  ourselves,  as  we  remember  the  pleasant  hours 
of  the  past,  we  can  only  close  in  those  sweetly  touching  lines 
of  Tennyson  : — 

'•We  weop  a  loss  forever  new, 

A  void  where  heart  on  heart  reposed ; 
And  where  warm  hands  have  pressed  and  closed- 
Silence  till  ice  be  silent  too. 

1  We  weep  the  comrade  of  our  choice, 
An  awful  thought,  a  life  removed, 
The  human-hearted  man  we  loved, 
A  spirit,  not  a  breathing  voice."' 


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211596 

Vallandigham,  J.L. 

A  life  of  Clement 
L.  Vallandigham. 


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